Impossible Relationships
by Neuropsych
Summary: (COMPLETE) Daniel finds it hard to carry on a relationship with someone who he has keep secrets from... (Rated for possible language, but that's about it)
1. 01

Author's Note:  
  
So... I'm thinking to myself... who haven't I written about from the original story? What am I missing? Then it occurs to me. Sally! I've alluded to her occasionally, but the story isn't told... so here it is!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of SG-1, however, I do own Sally, Shawn (if he appears in this story) Jaffer, and Jack (the dog) if they appear  
  
..................  
  
"Oh, this is not good..." Daniel looked down at his watch, much to Jack's surprise. They were huddled behind a big rock wall, guns out and pointed at a large advancing group of Jaffa that couldn't be seen, although their movements through the brush only a few hundred yards away made it perfectly clear that they weren't all that far away, and that all Hell was going to break loose any minute, now.  
  
"What?" Jack scowled, checking the load on his P-90 one more time. He was almost out of ammo, and if Carter didn't get the gate opened soon, he was going to be tossing rocks at the Jaffa. "You got a hot date you're going to be late for?" Jack asked, sarcastically. Sarcasm was always a good thing to fall back on when your life was flashing before your eyes.  
  
"I was supposed to be meeting Sally's parents tonight," Daniel said, breaking away from the thought long enough to check his own weapons. "She's going to kill me..."  
  
"Yeah, well..." Jack peeked out from behind the wall, and ducked back just as a staff weapon fired at him, taking a chunk from the stone where his head had been only seconds before. "She's going to have to stand in line!"  
  
He fired his P-90, trying to make every shot count, and Daniel stood up and did the same thing, showing only as much of himself as he needed to in order to be able to insure his shots weren't going wild. Daniel had become a fair shot in the years he'd spent with Jack, and was only getting better. The Jaffa he was aiming for went down in a heap.  
  
"Colonel!"  
  
Jack turned, just in time to see the gate activating and Carter beckoning for him and Daniel to come.  
  
"Go, Daniel!"  
  
O'Neill stood, completely exposing himself to make himself into the target of every Jaffa they were facing. It was the only way he could make sure that Daniel wasn't. He fired fully automatic, now, full bursts of machine gun fire raking through the Jaffa ranks as Daniel turned and ran full speed towards the Stargate Sam had finally managed to get open.  
  
"Come on, Jack!"  
  
He turned just in time to see O'Neill toss his now-empty machine gun aside, and reach for his Berretta, which was his backup weapon, and virtually useless against the Jaffa and their staff weapons. Jack knew it, Daniel knew it, and the Jaffa would realize it very quickly.  
  
"Go, Carter!" Jack was ordering her to safety, and expected to be obeyed. He couldn't leave his position until he was certain the others were through the gate and on the other side, although he was beginning to make a retreat towards the gate himself, never turning his back on the enemy, who were crouched low in respect for the machine gun, but were already beginning to level their staff weapons at him now that they knew he wasn't holding it anymore.  
  
Sam didn't argue. She couldn't. He wouldn't go until his team was safe, and that was all there was to it. She knew this. Knew it so well that she simply made sure she was already moving before he even called out the order to. She grabbed Daniel by the back of his jacket and pulled him through the gate with her as she dove in. Jack would follow. He always followed.  
  
A Jaffa rose up in front of Jack, and he fired his Berretta at him. Emptied the whole clip into the alien's chest, and had the satisfaction of seeing him drop. Now he was screwed, though, because he was out of ammo, and wasn't close enough to the gate to make a run for it.  
  
"O'Neill! Now!"  
  
Jack turned and saw a staff weapon blast pass right beside him, striking a Jaffa fully in the chest and knocking him back about fifteen feet. He didn't hesitate. Tucking his Beretta into the waist of his pants, Jack launched himself towards the Stargate and Teal'c, and felt a bolt of energy slam into his back, knocking him into the big Jaffa, sending both of them tumbling through the gate. He felt a flash of pain, and felt himself dissolving.  
  
Then swore when he reappeared at the other end of the Stargate, and tumbled down the ramp in a tangle of arms and legs with Teal'c, not stopping until they reached the bottom of the ramp, where he slammed into the support post of the railing.  
  
"Close the iris!"  
  
He didn't need to open his eyes to know that the voice was Hammond's, and he didn't need to look to know that the General was probably running across the room to check on SG-1. Which was a good thing, because Jack wasn't quite ready to open his eyes just yet.  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
He was lying on his stomach, pretty much still, since he was taking an inventory of how he felt, so he'd know exactly how much complaining to do when he saw Fraiser. Too much whining and she'd be annoyed. Not enough, and she wouldn't take him seriously when he really was hurting...  
  
"O'Neill? Are you injured?"  
  
He was, but not badly. Not badly enough to make everyone worry. Jack rolled over, and opened his eyes, looking up into Teal'c's concerned brown eyes, and Daniel and Sam's concerned blue ones.  
  
"So, you're meeting her parents, huh...?" He winced when he felt a stabbing pain go through his lower back – the staff wound was being rubbed by the edge of his Kevlar vest – but Daniel smiled in relief, knowing Jack wasn't too badly hurt if he could make fun of him.  
  
"Probably not. I was supposed to be there in half an hour, and that's not going to happen."  
  
"Well, this time it isn't my fault," Jack said, defensively, as Janet Fraiser arrived, and was already beginning to kneel next to him. "This one was all-"  
  
"I know, Jack," Daniel said, sighing. "But I can't really tell her that, can I? Which means I'll have to make something up. Again."  
  
"Tell her you got caught in traffic," O'Neill told him, gasping when Teal'c helped him to his feet so he could be taken to the infirmary to have his injuries taken care of.  
  
"For the millionth time?" Daniel shook his head; "I'll just call her and tell her I'll see her tomorrow... There's no way I'll be out of here in time to make it to the restaurant before they leave."  
  
"Don't let me stop you..." 


	2. 02

Author's Note: Gina doesn't know about the Stargate... only Andrew and Shawn do (and Dotty, but she doesn't count, because she's an alien) So not everyone from the original story does, just... most of them  
  
.................  
  
"Is he okay?"  
  
"He's fine."  
  
"I'm right here..." Jack scowled at Sam and Fraiser. He wasn't even lying down with his eyes closed. He was sitting on the edge of the examination table, holding still while a medic wrapped tape around his belly to hold the bandage in place that Janet had placed over the staff burn on his back.  
  
"His vest took most of the force," Janet told Carter, who smiled at Jack in a way that made him forget he was supposed to be scowling.  
  
"I want a longer vest."  
  
Janet smiled as well, and handed him his shirt once the medic was finished. A different shirt than the one he'd been wearing, since that one was now a smoking mess.  
  
"You're free to go, Colonel. If you have any pain and discomfort – beyond the normal aches – come tell me, and we'll figure out how to make it stop."  
  
"Thanks, Doc," Jack put his shirt on and slid off the table, wincing only slightly. He had a few aches and pains, but nothing too serious, and nothing he couldn't handle.  
  
"General Hammond is waiting for us in the briefing room." Sam told him as the two of them left the infirmary.  
  
"Good. Let's get this over with. I'm ready to get Jaffer and get home."  
  
"You're not the only one," Sam assured him. "Daniel's pacing like a hungry tiger. I'm surprised he didn't suggest we do the briefing in the infirmary."  
  
"He's supposed to be meeting Sally's parents tonight, and he's late," Jack explained. "Says she's going to kill him."  
  
"Ah." Yeah, that explained it. "Hopefully she'll understand."  
  
"Understand what, Carter?" Jack asked. He couldn't help but feel bad for Daniel. It had to be incredibly hard for him to balance his girlfriend – or whatever they were calling themselves – and his responsibilities. Jack had it made; he had Sam, who would always understand when he didn't make it someplace on time because hew as too busy saving the world – hell, half the time she was right there saving the world with him. Daniel didn't have it that easy. He'd been having more and more trouble coming up with excuses, although this was the first time he'd ever actually complained about it to Jack. And even then, Jack had a feeling Daniel wouldn't have said anything if he hadn't been so worried that Jack had taken a serious injury and had forgotten that he didn't discuss that stuff with him. (Since Jack had a tendency to tease him... just a little) "'Sorry I couldn't make it to the restaurant, I was on another planet being chased down and shot at by aliens.'? 'How are the folks, by the way?'"  
  
Sam shook her head. "Daniel will come up with something a little better than that, I'm sure."  
  
He was much better at cover stories than Sam was. Probably because he'd had so much practice.  
  
It was obvious, though, when they entered the briefing room, that Daniel hadn't thought of anything. The archeologist was sitting at the table with his head in his hands, a forlorn look on his face, although he did manage a smile when Jack and Sam walked through the door, and O'Neill came over and sat down next to him.  
  
"How's the back?"  
  
"I'll probably have to have it amputated..." Jack said, wincing slightly when he leaned against the back of his chair.  
  
"I hear it's a painless procedure..."  
  
The two of them smiled, and Jack slapped Daniel's shoulder with affection as Hammond called them to order to debrief.  
  
................  
  
"Did you get hold of Sally?"  
  
Daniel looked at Jack as SG-1 was heading out of the room half an hour later, obviously debating whether to answer that particular question or not..  
  
"Yeah. She's not happy."  
  
"Want me to tell her it was my fault?"  
  
"Nah, I'll figure something out..." he didn't sound so sure of that, though.  
  
"Why don't you and Sally come over tomorrow?"  
  
"What? To _your_ house?" Daniel's eyebrows vanished into his hair.  
  
"Why not?" Jack shrugged. "I haven't seen her in a while, and I know Sam would like to see her. We'll barbeque, and she can have a whole day of doing nothing but hanging out with you..."  
  
"And you...?"  
  
"And Sam, and Teal'c."  
  
"And Jaffer?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. He'll definitely be there." Jack smiled. "Come on, Daniel. Spend the day with us, and then take her someplace romantic for dinner and make up."  
  
"I don't know, Jack... She's pretty disappointed with me."  
  
"She'll get over it. _I'm_ a constant disappointment to Sam, and she still puts up with me."  
  
Daniel grinned. "That's different. Sam expects that from you..."  
  
"Smart ass." Jack cuffed Daniel's shoulder in mock irritation. "Well?"  
  
They were reaching the elevator, and Jack was heading up to get Jaffer, and Daniel was heading for his office. Daniel hesitated, clearing considering it, then shrugged.  
  
"If she wants to, it sounds like a good idea, Jack." It couldn't be any worse than anything he'd have come up with himself.  
  
"Course it's a good idea..." Jack smiled. "Let me know, and I'll set it up."  
  
"I'll call you tonight."  
  
"I'll be home in about an hour." 


	3. 03

Author's note: I didn't want to focus on the battle scene in the beginning of the story, since this one isn't about the battles... when battles are important, I love to be detailed! As for timeline, This story has Jaffer at about a year and a half old, and that makes it about two years after Campers! which will be commented on sometime during the story

...................

"Could you please tell me why it's possible for you to find time for us to go to Jack's, but you can't find time to come meet my parents?"  
  
Daniel sighed, but made sure that Sally couldn't hear that over the phone.  
  
"I didn't _want_ to miss meeting your parents, Sally." He told her, softly. "I couldn't help it. I was wrapped up at work and couldn't-"  
  
"Daniel." She stopped his excuse, and Daniel closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, tiredly. He was sitting at his desk in his office, rubbing the bruise on his hand that the P-90 had left. It always left a bruise. Daniel couldn't seem to get a callous like Jack and Sam both had.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sally. I really am."  
  
She sighed, and he heard it, and was sure she was going to chew him out. But she surprised him.  
  
"Fine. I'll come with you to Jack's. It'd be nice to see them."  
  
"I'll come and pick you up."  
  
"I'll believe it when I see you here..."  
  
She hung up, and Daniel looked at the receiver for a long moment before he finally rested it in the cradle. Yeah, he deserved that, but it didn't make it any easier to handle. Daniel sighed again, and rested his head in his hands. He should have just stayed in bed that morning.  
  
.................  
  
"Daniel?"  
  
He looked up and saw Sam at the door to his office, and looked at his watch. He'd been sulking at his desk for almost an hour and hadn't even realized it.  
  
"Sam. Hi." He tried to smile, but it fell flat, and Carter noticed it immediately, of course. She walked into the room and crossed over to sit on the edge of his desk.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Even he didn't believe that. Sam didn't buy it for a second. She leaned over and put her hand on his shoulder. Daniel wondered why he suddenly felt like crying.  
  
"Sally?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"She's mad at me. Wants to know why I can find time to spend with my friends but not with her and her folks..."  
  
Carter didn't know what to say. It had to be tough on Daniel since he couldn't tell Sally what he actually did for a living, and couldn't explain to her that there was a good reason he spent time with his friends. Although being shot at was definitely not Sam's idea of quality time.  
  
"Want me to talk to her?" Sam offered.  
  
He shrugged, looking up at her with his sad blue eyes. "I don't know what you could tell her that I haven't tried, Sam," Daniel said, hopelessly. "She's upset, and there's nothing I can do about it, short of telling her the truth – which, of course, I can't do. I just have to hope she gets over it. Maybe Jack's little get together tomorrow will do the trick, who knows?"  
  
"What little get together?"  
  
"He didn't tell you?"  
  
"Tell me what?"  
  
He told her about Jack's offer to have Sally and the others over the next day, and watched Sam's expression, wondering if he had just gotten Jack in trouble, since it was obvious O'Neill hadn't discussed it with Sam. She didn't seem upset, though. Instead she smiled, and nodded, squeezing Daniel's shoulder gently.  
  
"It sounds like a good idea." She said. "Are you sure it was Jack's?"  
  
That made Daniel smile, as Sam had known it would. She was good at making Jack smile when he needed it, and Daniel was no problem compared to some of Jack's worst moods.  
  
"Why don't you come home with me, Daniel?" She didn't like the thought of him going home and sitting around, brooding. Daniel was too good-natured for that. "We can have a nice dinner, and maybe watch some old movies..."  
  
He visibly thought that over, but shook his head. "I don't think so, Sam. I'm pretty tired. I... I'm going to go home and get some sleep." He smiled again, and it was a little better than the first attempt. "Thanks, though."  
  
"If you change your mind, give me a call," Sam said, leaning over and kissing his cheek, then hopping off his desk. "I'll have my cell phone on."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
He watched as she left, wondering what he'd done to deserve friends like her and Jack then sighed and stood up. He'd go home, get a bite to eat, a shower, and then go to bed. Tomorrow would be a better day, right? It couldn't be any worse, that was for sure.  
  
........................  
  
"I'm worried about Daniel..."  
  
Jack shifted the phone over to the other ear, freeing his right hand to open the door and let Jaffer back inside. The black lab whuffled Jack happily, then headed over to his food dish, which O'Neill had filled while Jaffer was outside, and started eating noisily.  
  
"Sally?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Did he invite her over tomorrow? Do you know?"  
  
"She's coming. But she's still upset with him, and it's got him upset."  
  
Yeah, Jack could believe that.  
  
"I'll fix him, Sam," Jack promised, reaching for his keys.  
  
"He doesn't _need_ to be fixed..."  
  
"Sure he does. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"  
  
"Jack..."  
  
"Sam..." He grinned, knowing that she was undoubtedly giving him a look, even though he couldn't see her. "Don't worry, Sam. I'm all over it."  
  
"That's what I'm afraid of."  
  
There was a chuckle, and the phone went dead, and Sam looked at the receiver for a long moment, then leaned back in the tub once more and closed her eyes, trying to relax again.  
  
Jack looked down at Jaffer, who looked back up at him, still chewing his kibble.  
  
"Want to go for a drive?"  
  
The black lab headed for the door.


	4. 04

The knock on his door startled Daniel. He'd been sitting on his sofa in the middle of the living room, surrounded by his artifacts and translations and all sorts of doohickeys, but he hadn't been looking at any of them. He'd been thinking about Sally. Or maybe not Sally. Maybe he'd been thinking about his friends, and she'd been counted as one of them. God knew at the moment she probably didn't want herself to be considered as his girlfriend. Certainly not as his lover.  
  
The knock sounded again, and he looked at his watch as he got to his feet, wiping his eyes since they were fogging up his glasses. Damn. He hadn't even realized he'd been that close to tears. Not since he'd left his office at the SGC. He'd thought he had all that under control.  
  
"I'm coming..."  
  
He opened the door, almost expecting it to be Sam. She hadn't looked all that convinced when Daniel had told her he was fine, and that he was going to go home and just go to bed. He wouldn't put it past her, coming over with movies to take his mind off his problems. It was the kind of person she was. A good friend.  
  
It wasn't Sam. It was Jack. And he didn't have movies; he had Jaffer, who was sitting at Jack's side, looking for all the world as if he was the most well-behaved dog that ever existed. Daniel knew better.  
  
"Jack..."  
  
"And _you're_ Daniel. And _this_ is Jaffer..." O'Neill walked into the archeologist's apartment, slapping Daniel's shoulder. "_Good_, Daniel! You've really made some progress with the whole name thing."  
  
Daniel scowled, turning to stand by the open door as he watched Jaffer look around with interest, and watched Jack stop in the middle of the room and turn back to look at Daniel. Even at that distance, Daniel could see that Jack's brown eyes weren't as cheerful as they normally would have been when Jack was teasing him. Daniel knew. Jack teased him a lot, when given the opportunity.  
  
"What are you doing here?" His eyes went to Jaffer, again. "Don't let him eat anything..."  
  
"Jaffer, stand."  
  
It didn't mean literally 'stand'. It was a command that told the black lab to be alert. Which meant '_keep your nose out of Daniel's dusty shelves'_. The big dog sighed, and looked over at Daniel, reproachfully, as if he knew it was Daniel's fault.  
  
"Sam's worried about you."  
  
Ah, so Carter _was_ involved. Daniel had been right.  
  
"And she sent you?"  
  
"I volunteered."  
  
Um. Yeah.  
  
"Jack. I'm fine... I just..." He shrugged, unable to explain what was on his mind, and uncertain if he even wanted to try and explain it to O'Neill, who would most definitely hold it over his head as teasing material for the rest of his life.  
  
"You're in love with this totally hot woman, who is smart, and funny, and you think that if you don't put your arms around her every day, your day has been a waste? But because of work, your relationship is strained, and circumstances are such that you can't do anything about that, no matter how badly you want to. Short of leaving your job for her – which really, you just can't imagine doing, since what you're doing at work is far more important than anyone would ever imagine."  
  
Daniel stared at him. Jack had it far more perfectly than Daniel ever would have imagined he could have.  
  
"I... Yes... how... how did you...?"  
  
"Daniel. I just described how I felt about Sam for the first years of our relationship. It's not exactly the same as you and Sally, but I'll bet it's pretty close." He left Jaffer sitting in the middle of the room and walked into Daniel's bathroom, rummaging through the medicine cabinet for a moment, then coming back with a little pill, which he handed to the younger man.  
  
"Take that."  
  
"It's an allergy pill."  
  
"I know."  
  
Daniel took it without comment, but realized it was because Jaffer was in the room, and Jack wasn't planning on going anywhere for a while. Daniel was allergic to Jaffer, but only in closed in areas, and only after prolonged contact with the dog. He wasn't as bad as flowers, but it could get messy without the pill to keep him from going into a sneezefest.  
  
"Sam is beautiful, and smart, and you have no idea how much I... liked her," Jack said. "From the very beginning. _You_ didn't see her when we first met. She was so cocky, and she didn't back down from any of us." He smiled. "It... it was great."  
  
Daniel walked over and sat down, without saying a word. He'd never heard Jack discuss something this personal before, and knew that he probably wasn't going to again. Which meant that Jack wanted him to hear it, and that Jack was concerned enough about him to actually open up – hugely – to try and cheer him up. Jaffer walked over and stuck his nose in Daniel's hand, and the archeologist ran his fingers along the glossy coat while he listened to Jack.  
  
"She was _so_ confident..." Jack continued. 'Took all the crap we handed her, and threw back her own. Only when she got to the Stargate and we were standing there, ready to go through did she show any signs of nervousness – and even that was well hidden by her techno-babble. She blathered on about... well... you know... I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying..."  
  
Daniel smiled. Big shock there.  
  
"Anyways... she was attractive, yes, but that wasn't what attracted me to her. It was her nerve. She didn't back down from me... and believe me, I wasn't _really_ all that nice to her..."  
  
"I believe you." Daniel smiled.  
  
"So, there I was. We get back to the SGC after the mission, and now I'm leader of SG-1. Got _you_. A scientist who loves to study rocks. Got _Teal'c_. A Jaffa who has a lot to learn about my sense of humor. And I've got _Sam_. A woman who I've already decided I... like... and who, because of the chain of command, I can't even look at funny. It was rough."  
  
"I bet..." Daniel had never thought about that. Not really. He'd known Jack and Sam had the whole sexual tension thing going, but he'd never realized that it had been so deep for Jack so early on.  
  
"Don't get me wrong," Jack told him, finally coming over and sitting in the chair across from the sofa.  
  
Much to Daniel's surprise, Jaffer stayed beside Daniel, his head resting on the archeologist's thigh, his eyes closed in bliss as Daniel's hands stroked his ears and sides.  
  
"_I_ can deal with a scientist who can be pretty single-minded when it comes to what he wants to do, and look at. And I can _handle_ teaching a Jaffa all that he needs to know about the Simpsons, and Earth humor. But the other part... _that_ was hard. The hardest thing I've ever done. I had to hide the fact that I was in... like... with Sam."  
  
Daniel smiled.  
  
"In _like_, huh?"  
  
Jack scowled.  
  
"You and Sam are an item _now_, though, Jack." Daniel said, softly, resting his cheek against Jaffer's shoulder. "You don't have to hide it – I know you keep it toned down at the base, but it's there to see."  
  
"But we _did_ have to hide it, Daniel." Jack told him. "For years. For what felt like a _million_ years. Felt like I was just going to blow up, sometimes, and resign just so I could be with her. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Harder than anything I've ever done on any of the planets we've ever been on."  
  
Daniel nodded. He was sure that was the truth.  
  
"Look..." Jack shrugged. "You know I'm not good at this kind of thing, but I know how you feel. What you're going through right now with Sally. I know what you're feeling – at least, I'm pretty sure I do. You're wanting to be with her, and you're having trouble with that because of the SGC. You're missing dates because of off-world duties, and you can't tell her you're saving the world – which would make it a little more acceptable than the excuses you're probably coming up with. She's probably getting frustrated with you, and I imagine you're being pulled from both sides. Responsibility to the SGC, and... how much you... like... her."  
  
"_Love_, Jack." Daniel corrected. "I _love_ her." 


	5. 05

"Love, then." Jack shrugged. "Call it whatever you want."  
  
"So... you think things will work themselves out?" Daniel asked, hopefully, rubbing Jaffer's ears.  
  
"I don't know, Daniel." Jack said, honestly. "What I _do_ know is that things worked out with me and Sam... are still being worked out, for that matter, and that if I'd have given up way back during the first year I knew her, I'd _never_ be as happy as I am now."  
  
He _was_ happy, too. Daniel knew it better than anyone. Even Sam. Daniel had seen Jack at his very worst, and was now seeing him at what had to be his very best. Unless the time with his wife and Charlie was better, but Daniel wasn't sure about that, and didn't want to speculate. He was right, too, Daniel knew. And Sally was worth the effort, at least. Daniel was certain he could be happy with Sally. Was fairly certain that Sally could be happy with him. If they could get past this whole Stargate thing, she was probably the one Daniel wanted to settle down and grow old with.  
  
Jack was silent, watching as Daniel thought things through. This was nothing new for him; he'd seen that look of concentration on Daniel's face a million times, although usually it was when the problem he was considering was far less personal. Translations and moral issues, things like that. He was always amazed and impressed by the fact that Daniel – and Sam – for that matter, could sit and think like that. Jack was more a snap decision kind of guy, and rarely considered himself a heavy sit down and think kind of person. Although the people around him knew better, even if he didn't.  
  
They were like that for quite a while, but Jack didn't interrupt, and he didn't shift his position, allowing Daniel to concentrate on his problems, and the fact that eventually, there might be hope for his future. God knew if Jack and Sam had managed a future together, anyone could. Finally, Daniel looked up from rubbing Jaffer's ears, and looked at Jack.  
  
"Thanks, Jack."  
  
O'Neill shrugged. "I just thought you should know, Daniel. It's not as hopeless as it might seem."  
  
"You're right. I should."  
  
Jack shrugged again, trying to look nonchalant. "If all else fails, you know... and you're pretty much down in the dumps about something like that... just realize that I know how you feel, okay? And if you need to talk... or just... I don't know... whatever..."  
  
"I do know, Jack..." Daniel could help but feel just a _little_ gooey inside. Jack had pretty much just done the nicest thing he'd ever done for him. And he couldn't even imagine what it had cost Jack to come and have this little talk with him. "I appreciate it."  
  
"Yeah, well..." He shrugged, again. "You could offer me a beer, or some coffee... show me just how much you appreciate it."  
  
Daniel chuckled, and slapped Jaffer's side affectionately. Even the black lab had done a part in cheering him up, letting Daniel hold him like that when he'd needed something. He definitely wasn't going to cuddle up to Jack. No matter how gooey he was feeling. He stood up and went into his kitchen, followed by Jaffer, who'd never pass up a trip into the kitchen. Even if it wasn't his house.  
  
"Which would you rather have? Coffee or beer?"  
  
"A beer is fine, if it's cold." Jack called from the living room.  
  
Daniel pulled a couple beers out of the fridge and looked down at Jaffer, whose nose was stuck in the fridge as well.  
  
"And _you_?" He asked, smiling. "What do you want?"  
  
Jaffer's tail wagged, idly. He wasn't picky. Beer or coffee or the ham he could smell on the second shelf.  
  
Daniel searched the fridge for some kind of doggie treat, knowing from experience that Jaffer would pretty much eat anything that wasn't nailed down. (If it were nailed down, he'd just chew on it) He pulled out a burger that was left over from dinner the night before, and unwrapped it, then cut it up like he'd seen Jack do a million times, and put it on a plate and carried all of it out into the living room.  
  
"A burger?" Jack smiled as he took his beer, and Daniel shrugged.  
  
"A _good_ host is always prepared."  
  
He set the plate on the floor, and Jaffer started in on it, knowing that if it was on the floor, it had to be for him.  
  
Jack simply smiled again, and took a pull of his beer.  
  
"So is Sally coming to my house tomorrow?"  
  
Daniel nodded.  
  
"Good. At least she hasn't given up on you."  
  
Daniel sighed and leaned back against the couch. "I can't imagine why she hasn't. It's been... what?... almost two years, now? We've gotten nowhere."  
  
"I doubt that." Jack disagreed. "I'd never date you for two years, so she must have some serious feelings for you to put up with you for that long."  
  
"Well, I'm glad to hear that, Jack," Daniel said, smiling. "I wouldn't date you for two years, either." He was right again, though, and probably didn't even realize it. Two years was a long time to be dating someone. "Maybe I should..."  
  
"Should what?"  
  
"I don't know..." Daniel shrugged. "Do something special for her. To thank her for putting up with my crap for so long."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
He shrugged, again.  
  
"I don't know... it'd have to be something pretty big. There's a lot of crap to have put up with."  
  
"Maybe you can ask Sam." Jack said. "Ask her what she'd like for putting up with all the crap I put her through. And then tell me, so I can do it."  
  
The younger man looked over at Jack, his blue eyes speculative. "Maybe we should do something for them?"  
  
"What? _Tomorrow_?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Jack was uncomfortable, and it showed. He squirmed.  
  
"I don't know... because it's not something I really have given much thought to..."  
  
"You must have, Jack, or you wouldn't have brought it up."  
  
"Who are you, Sigmund Freud?"  
  
Daniel grinned, feeling much better than he had all day.  
  
"Come on, Jack. If we think about it, we should be able to come up with something at least halfway romantic."  
  
"Daniel..."  
  
"You think Sam doesn't deserve something romantic?"  
  
Oooo, low shot, there. They both knew it. And it was the only time Jack would let him get away with that.  
  
"Fine. Think of something... romantic, then..."  
  
Maybe if he had a few more beers, he'd think of something, too. 


	6. 06

The phone rang early the next morning.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Good morning."  
  
Jack smiled, even though Sam couldn't see it. "Good morning."  
  
"How was your night?"  
  
"Fine. Yours?"  
  
"Fine..."  
  
"What's up, Sam?" Not that he wasn't always happy to hear her voice, but it was obvious she had something on her mind.  
  
"Did you go to Daniel's last night?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
'How's he doing?"  
  
"He's fine, Sam."  
  
"Are we all still on for today?"  
  
"Yup. I'll come by and pick you up about noon."  
  
"You're picking me up?" She asked. "I can drive over there."  
  
"I know." He reached over and flipped on the coffee pot. "But I'll pick you up."  
  
"Um... okay."  
  
"See you at noon."  
  
"Want me to bring anything?"  
  
"Just you. Daniel and I are going to go to the store and get the stuff we need before he goes and gets Sally."  
  
"You're sure Daniel's okay?"  
  
"I'm sure, Sam."  
  
"Maybe I should call him...?"  
  
"He's probably still asleep. We stayed up late last night."  
  
"_You're_ awake."  
  
"I have Jaffer."  
  
Good point.  
  
"Noon?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"I'll see you then."  
  
"Okay."  
  
................  
  
The phone rang. Then it rang again.  
  
Daniel groaned, and reached over without opening his eyes, and promptly knocked it off the stand by the bed.  
  
"Damn it..." He turned his head and looked over the edge of the bed, and realized everything was blurry. No glasses. One hand went for his glasses, the other reached down for the phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Daniel?"  
  
"Sam?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Almost seven. How are you feeling?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"Feel?"  
  
"How are you doing, Daniel?"  
  
"Oh." He yawned, and blinked a few times, trying to wake up. "I'm fine, Sam."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"Yeah. Is everything okay?"  
  
Daniel wasn't sure what day of the week it was, much less how things were going.  
  
"Everything's fine, Sam. Are you okay?" He sat up, suddenly worried, and now wide-awake. "Is Jack okay?" What other reason would she be calling him so early?  
  
"He's fine, Daniel," Sam could hear the worry in her friend's voice, and was quick to reassure. "Everyone's fine, I was just... calling to see if you were going to want a ride to Jack's?" Yeah, it wasn't much of a lie, but it was all she could think of. Carter wasn't the best at quick lies like that.  
  
"No, Sam, thanks. I'm going to pick up Sally, and then we'll be over. Sometime around noon."  
  
"Okay, I'll see you there."  
  
"Bye."  
  
He flopped back down on his bed, intent on getting more sleep, but the damage had been done; he was awake, and thinking about the day to come, and he wasn't going to get back to sleep with his agile mind mulling over the things that he and Jack had planned. He sighed, and threw back the blankets. Coffee.  
  
...................  
  
Sam couldn't help the smile that was on her face when she opened her door at exactly 11:57 AM.  
  
"Am I missing something?" She asked.  
  
Jack was dressed far more formally than she was. He was wearing khaki slacks and a navy blue button down shirt. And a tie! He had his right hand in his pocket, and his left hand was slightly behind his back. Sam herself was in jeans and a white blouse. "Should I go change?"  
  
He shook his head, smiling – a little nervously, she decided. "You look great, Sam."  
  
"Why are you dressed up?"  
  
She looked down at Jaffer, who was standing at Jack's side, and her smile grew. He had a white bowtie attached to his collar, hiding his tags.  
  
"Is there something wrong with wanting to look your best for the woman you love?" Jack asked, bringing his left hand out from behind his back and handing her a single long-stemmed red rose.  
  
Sam took it, her smile threatening to split her face right in two.  
  
"Jack...?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Did Jaffer eat something expensive of mine?"  
  
O'Neill grinned, and shook his head. "No, Sam. Not lately, anyways." He leaned forward, and kissed her gently. "I just want to use today to remind you how special you are to me."  
  
"You're not dying are you?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"Jaffer's okay?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Jack held out his arm for Sam, and she rested her hand lightly on it, wondering what in the world had gotten into him. She closed the door with her free hand, and was then escorted to Jack's freshly washed and detailed truck, where he opened her door for her, then kissed her once more before closing it.  
  
Sam smelled the rose, still smiling, while Jack lowered the tailgate for Jaffer to hop up into the back, then watched as he got behind the wheel, and rested her hand lightly on his thigh as he started the engine.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"This is _your_ day, Sam," Jack said, resting his hand on hers for just a moment, before moving it so he could shift the truck into drive. "You're not allowed to thank me today, okay?"  
  
"Not once?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"I'll try to remember that."

"You do that."


	7. 07

Jack's house was clean. Oh, it was normally fairly well picked up, since Jaffer had a tendency to chew up anything that was left on the floor or at dog level, so O'Neill tended to keep things picked up, but when they walked through the front door Sam saw that the place was positively glowing with cleanliness.  
  
"Wow, are you trying to impress Sally?"  
  
"Not really," Jack told her, smiling as he dropped his keys on the stand by the door. That wasn't true, of course. The house was cleaned because he and Daniel had decided it should be clean. So it was clean. "It just needed cleaned."  
  
"Uh huh." She didn't buy that, but she wasn't going to make a federal case out of it.  
  
"Something to drink?"  
  
"Tea?"  
  
"You got it. Go ahead and sit down, I'll bring it to you."  
  
Sam had just sat down when there was a knock on the door. Jaffer trotted over, his tail wagging. That told Sam that there was someone Jaffer knew and liked on the other side, and she assumed it was Daniel.  
  
"I'll get it," Jack said from the kitchen, already heading over to the door. Sam got up, though, and stood next to the sofa, watching as Jack opened the door.  
  
Daniel was standing there, dressed just as well as Jack was. Black slacks and a pale blue shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes beautifully. He, too, was wearing a tie, and on his arm was an equally baffled looking Sally holding a long stemmed red rose.  
  
Sally was a pretty woman a year older than Sam, who had long dark hair with hazel eyes. She was dressed as casually as Sam was, wearing jeans and a blouse, but she smiled when she saw how Jack was dressed, and the smile only grew when she saw Jaffer's bowtie.  
  
"Hi, Sally," Jack greeted her, moving so they could go inside. "You look good."  
  
"Thanks, Jack. You look wonderful." She reached down and patted Jaffer's head, and the black lab's tail wagged furiously at the attention. "_You_ look wonderful, too, Jaffer."  
  
"Can I get you something to drink?" Jack asked. "Anything from beer to tea or coffee..."  
  
"I'll have a beer, Jack, thank you."  
  
Jack left and Sally walked over to Sam, giving her a hug and looking at Daniel who had gone into the kitchen with O'Neill.  
  
"Am I _missing_ something?" She asked.  
  
Carter shrugged. "I don't have a clue," She whispered. "Jack's acting odd, too."  
  
They laughed, and Jaffer trotted over to see what was going on.  
  
.......................  
  
The afternoon started out exactly as planned. Sam and Sally were hustled out onto the deck out back, where a table was set up with a table cloth, actual matching dishes and even candles, although they weren't lit, and probably wouldn't be. There was a centerpiece on the table – a bunch of flowers mixed in with some leaves of all colors and a few decorative items that were designed just for added color.  
  
"Did one of you make this?" Sally asked.  
  
Jack snorted, and shook his head.  
  
"Home Depot."  
  
Nature was behaving nicely as well, and the day was lovely and bright with no wind to speak of. Nothing was being blown around, and it was nice but not too hot. Jack opened a large screen that was rarely used on his deck, which sheltered the table from the direct rays of the sun, then set a bag of dog treats on the table. He and Daniel needed time to finish their preparations, and Jaffer was a perfect diversion.  
  
"Run him through his paces, Sam," he said, smiling. "Show Sally what my doggie genius can do."  
  
"Well... let's see... he can chew up my laptop... he can chew off the knobs off-"  
  
"Show her his tricks, smart ass." He grinned and kissed her cheek to soften the rebuke, and Sally laughed, looking down at Jaffer.  
  
"I've seen some of his tricks, Jack..."  
  
"Nah, he's learned new ones, Sally. He's always learning new tricks. If he doesn't, he gets bored, and then he starts chewing on stuff."  
  
Sally took the bag and opened it, taking out a treat, which Jaffer eyed expectantly.  
  
"What do I tell him to do, Sam?"  
  
"Tell him to count to four..."  
  
Jack grinned and headed back inside, knowing that they were going to be distracted as long as the treats held out.  
  
"How's it going, Jack?" Daniel asked when he joined the younger man in the kitchen. Daniel was starting to cut up lettuce for their salad.  
  
"So far, so good. Did Sally say anything to you when you picked her up?"  
  
"Nothing bad. I think she was too surprised by the way I was dressed."  
  
"We'll just have to keep her surprised, then, huh?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
Suddenly there was a faint beeping from out on the deck, and another faint beeping from someplace down the hall.  
  
"What's-?"  
  
Another beeping – this one much louder – came from Daniel's pocket, and both men groaned, realizing what it was. Daniel pulled his beeper out of his pocket, just as Sam came in, carrying hers, and followed by Sally, who looked curious as to what was going on.  
  
"Are you guys getting paged?" Sam asked, although the answer was given when she saw the beeper in Daniel's hand.  
  
Jack's phone rang, and Jaffer came rushing in through the kitchen door, grabbing it before Jack could and bringing it over.  
  
"O'Neill."  
  
There was a pause, and the others watched, although none of them could hear what was being said on the other end. Jack's face was serious immediately.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"No, don't bother. They're both here with me."  
  
"Yeah. We'll be right there. Tell Hammond."  
  
He hung up, and looked at the others.  
  
"There's trouble."  
  
Daniel looked over at Sally, unsure how to explain what was happening. She sighed, looking annoyed.  
  
"You have to go?"  
  
Jack nodded. "It's an emergency, Sally."  
  
"A _deep space telemetry emergency_?" She scowled, but there was no denying the serious look on Jack's face. He was the only one who really knew what was wrong, after all. The others looked worried, but they didn't know what had happened.  
  
"You can take my car, Sally," Daniel said, reaching into his pocket and handing her his keys. "I'm really sorry."  
  
"I am, too, Daniel." She didn't look nearly as sorry as she did angry, but Daniel couldn't think of anything to say.  
  
Jack was already heading for the door, Jaffer right beside him, and Sam close behind.  
  
"Come on, Daniel!"  
  
"I'm sorry..." His face troubled, his eyes worried, Daniel turned and followed Jack and Sam out the door.  
  
What a perfect day. 


	8. 08

"What's happening?" Sam asked as they piled into Jack's truck, Jaffer jumping into the seat behind Jack, and Daniel climbing in behind Sam's.  
  
"SG-5 is in trouble on PKL-3R3."  
  
"We were just there last week," Daniel said. "The place was clean."  
  
"Obviously not. But since we've been there, they need us to go."  
  
Daniel shook his head. "She's never going to forgive me..."  
  
Jack and Sam looked over at each other, but neither could think of anything to say that would reassure Daniel.  
  
"Pull Jaffer's bowtie off, will ya, Daniel?"  
  
.................  
  
"SG-5 radioed us telling us they were under fire and pinned in some gully, but we haven't heard anything from them since." Hammond looked at his watch. "That was about half an hour ago." He paused, looking at Jack, who was just buttoning his shirt. They'd had to change, but had been in such a hurry, they'd finished in the hall on the way to the embarkation room, where Teal'c and Hammond were waiting for them.  
  
"No word since?"  
  
"No. We sent SG-6 through, but they couldn't find the gully, and they can hear gunfire, but because of the terrain, they can't figure out where it's coming from."  
  
"We're ready, Sir."  
  
Jack reached over and took his Kevlar vest from one of the security guys, watching as the rest of his team were similarly assisted.  
  
"SG-6 is waiting for you on the other side. Bring them all home safely, Colonel."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
He buckled on his holster as the gate engaged, and was the first one up the ramp, his P-90 held up and ready.  
  
............  
  
"What's the word, Lauder?"  
  
The Major who commanded SG-6 shrugged, looking helplessly at O'Neill and the rest of SG-1. In the air was the occasional sound of rifle or machine gun fire, but because of the mountains around the gate, the sounds were echoing all over the area, making it difficult to tell where they were coming from.  
  
"We can't hear anything, Sir. No radio contact, anyways, although there's been a ton of gunfire. They radioed that they were in a gully, but my team can't find a gully, and we can't get them to answer our calls."  
  
"The radios are probably having trouble with the mountains," Jack said. "Let's go find them."  
  
He motioned for Lauder to leave a couple people to guard the gate – and their sixes – then led the others toward the gully he and his team had found the first time they'd been on the planet. When they'd had Jaffer and Jack with them. This time, the labs had been left behind, since Jack wasn't going to risk either one of them in a firefight that they couldn't be much help in. Not even the dogs' noses would be much help.  
  
Luckily, Jack and the others had been there, and had had plenty of time to look around. There hadn't been any sign of trouble then, and even the dogs hadn't found any reason to think there was danger, so SG-1 knew the area well, and all four of them were fairly certain they knew which gully it was, and more importantly, where that gully was.  
  
The six of them (SG-1, and two of SG-6) found out almost fifteen minutes later that they'd been right. The sound of gunfire increased, and suddenly there was radio chatter coming from every radio.  
  
"Repeat! This is Sierra Gulf Fiver! Can you..." garbled transmission, then... "We're under a large..." There was more garbled chatter, but the gunfire that had been echoing before was now clear to the seasoned officers of SG-1 and 6. They knew where they were heading.  
  
Jack keyed his radio. "Sierra Gulf Fiver, this is Sierra Gulf One. We're coming in from the south. Repeat, from the south! What is your situation?"  
  
"One down, Sierra Gulf One." The voice on the other end of the radio was calm, although there was also a note of relief as well. "We have at least a dozen baddies pinning us down from the south, and we're running low on..." garbled... "So..." garbled transmission... then "Watch your twelve, Sir..."  
  
"Roger. Hang in there, we're close."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
"They've got them blocked off from the gate, then," Carter said, when they all stopped to make their plan.  
  
"Yeah. We'll have them between us, though, if SG-5 has enough ammo left to make a try at breaking through."  
  
"What's the plan, Colonel?" Lauder asked.  
  
"We'll break them out." Jack said, keying his radio. "Listen up, guys, I only want to tell you all once."  
  
................  
  
The plan worked.

SG-1 and SG-6 came in from behind the Jaffa, turning their attention from the pinned down SG-5 to them, and giving SG-5 a chance to group up a little better. Of course, the surprise only lasted a few moments, but it was enough for Daniel, Teal'c and Jack to sweep through their line, effectively breaking the siege while the others covered them. Extra ammo was handed out, and Teal'c tossed Jack his staff weapon and gathered up the wounded man, slinging him up over his shoulder with ease. O'Neill was as good with a staff weapon as he was with any other weapon, and he led the group as they headed out of the gully, back towards SG-1 and 6, where they were laying down cover fire, and taking out as many of the enemy as they could, knowing that the more they could mow down now, the fewer there would be to chase them back to the gate.  
  
They crashed back through the line of Jaffa, and Jack lagged back, using the more powerful weapon in his hand to guard the retreat as the teams all regrouped once more for their last break for the gate, and to make sure there weren't more injuries they didn't know about that might slow them down.  
  
Teal'c showed no signs of needing help with the seriously injured member of SG-5, which would save the extra hands for cover fire as well.  
  
"Daniel, you're with me. The rest of you, get going. Carter, take point with Lauder."  
  
Jack and Daniel would be back up, but Sam and the CO of SG-6 would have the more important job of making sure they weren't going to run into any other Jaffa who might have jockeyed around and gotten ahead of them. Daniel lagged back beside Jack, both of them holding their weapons up and pretty much running backward, firing whenever a Jaffa showed himself.

It was working.  
  
And then it all went bad on them.  
  
"Colonel!" Lauder saw the Jaffa before Carter did. He was looking in the right direction, while Sam had been checking the other way, and Lauder was the one that saw the group of Jaffa coming through another gully and heading right towards them, staff weapons raised and firing.  
  
Jack turned just as they fired, and Daniel went down in heap when the first volley of fire blasted into the two of them and a bolt slammed into his side.  
  
"Daniel!"  
  
O'Neill grabbed him by the vest, and pulled him up. They didn't have time to stop. Not with the crowd coming at them. Daniel gasped in pain – which told Jack he was alive – and O'Neill pulled him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. It would make firing back impossible, but it didn't matter. Jack wouldn't leave Daniel, and he knew the others would cover him as well as they could. With the staff weapon in one hand, and holding Daniel tightly with the other, Jack headed after the others, who'd all stopped to fire at the approaching Jaffa.  
  
"Move! We can't let them surround us!"  
  
"They're-"  
  
A bolt whizzed past Jack's head and he ducked, almost dropping the staff weapon.  
  
"Get going, God damn it!"  
  
The others started running, again, Jack following them, pretty much figuring they were in a world of hurt, but hoping he could make it to the gate before the Jaffa managed to catch up – or they got lucky and hit him, too.  
  
They weren't far away, now. Jack knew it was probably only another mile, but he was pretty sure that he and Daniel weren't going to make it that far. There were a lot of Jaffa closing in on them. He could only hope that Sam and the others were close enough to make it, since they were able to move a lot faster than he was, and that the two SG-6 guys that were guarding the gate heard the fire and knew they needed to get their asses down and get some cover fire going.  
  
Then the cavalry arrived. Around the bend there was suddenly a small sea of green- clad soldiers, all carrying weapons, and firing past Jack at the group of pursuing Jaffa. A pair took Daniel from Jack, who handed him over willingly, knowing that the fireman's carry could only be hurting him worse. Raising up Teal'c's staff weapon once more, Jack turned towards the approaching Jaffa, only to find they'd broken ranks and were beginning to make a retreat of their own. One SG unit pinned down was one thing. A whole mess of them, all shooting back and able to defend themselves was quite another, and the Jaffa didn't want anything to do with it.  
  
Teal'c came running over, having been relieved of the injured SG-5 member, and Jack handed him back his staff weapon as he watched the retreating Jaffa.  
  
"Daniel took a hit."  
  
"I am aware." Teal'c said, as Jack called the cavalry back, not wanting them to run into any kind of half-assed ambush the Jaffa might try to set up. "Major Carter has been injured as well."  
  
"What?"


	9. 09

Jack left the clean up to SG-6. He didn't even bother to justify it – although the mere fact that they didn't have any wounded would have been reason enough to leave them to mop up any gear SG-5 had lost in the ambush. With backup, of course. Lots of backup. Jack and the others went through the gate back to the SGC.  
  
The other side was chaos. Medical teams had come for the wounded and taken them to the infirmary, but there were bloody bandages on the floor, and SG- 5 was trying to give Hammond a preliminary report while at the same time the COs of SG-8, 9, 13, and 14 were all adding in what little they knew. Hammond waved Jack and Teal'c over the moment they reemerged, and Jack was more than willing to go.  
  
"Carter? Daniel?"  
  
"Doctor Fraiser's teams just took them to the infirmary. Major Carter was conscious, and Doctor Fraiser said she didn't look all that serious."  
  
"Daniel?"  
  
"I'm not sure, Colonel."  
  
He nodded, and headed for the door, with Teal'c right behind him. Hammond didn't even bother to tell him to stay. He wouldn't have listened anyways.  
  
................  
  
The infirmary was bustling. Three separate tables had doctors and nurses gathered around them, all working as smoothly together as any of the SGC teams did. All of them knew their jobs, and they did them with practiced ease. But to Jack, it looked like chaos. The only good thing was that Sam was sitting up on the table they'd put her on. Which meant that like Hammond had said, she couldn't have been hurt all that badly. Jack and Teal'c went over to her, picking their way carefully through the medical personnel and trying hard not to get in the way.  
  
"Sam?"  
  
She hadn't seen him coming. She'd been watching a corpsman apply an antiseptic cream to a nasty burn on her upper thigh. She looked up, as did the doctor who was checking her blood pressure and other stats.  
  
"I'm fine. Just got hit with a ricochet." She looked over at the table Fraiser was working at. That was the one that had Daniel on it, and he wasn't sitting up. And Fraiser's face was serious and grim, which was enough to worry everyone looking. "How's Daniel?"  
  
"He got hit in the side," Jack said. "I'm not sure how bad it was..." He wanted to ask Fraiser, but he didn't want to interrupt her. "How is she doing, Doc?" Jack asked the doctor working on Carter.  
  
"She has a burn on her leg, and a few abrasions. Aside from that, everything looks good. She probably won't need much time in the infirmary, but that'll be Doctor Fraiser's decision."  
  
"What of Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked the doctor.  
  
"I'm not sure." He looked at Fraiser's table, but shook his head. "You'll need to wait outside, Sir. We need the room."  
  
Jack scowled. The last thing he wanted to do was wait outside. Obviously from the look on Teal'c's face, he didn't want to wait outside, either.  
  
"You'd better do it, Sir," Sam said, wishing she could reach out and take that worried look off Jack's face with a touch. "I'll be fine, and Daniel will, too. General Hammond's probably waiting for a report."  
  
"I don't want to-"  
  
"Colonel, get out of my infirmary."  
  
Jack frowned, looking over at Fraiser, who was walking over to the table Sam was on.  
  
"How's Daniel?"  
  
"He'll be fine. Go find something else to do while I finish patching him up, and leave Major Harris alone so he can clean up Sam's injuries."  
  
"I wasn't _bothering_-"  
  
"Colonel. Go." She turned and went back to Daniel's table. She'd only left his side to take a look at Daniel's x-rays.  
  
O'Neill scowled, but he and Teal'c both turned and left the room, stopping at the doorway and waiting there for word on Daniel, and for Fraiser to release Sam.  
  
.....................  
  
Janet didn't release Carter. She had her put to bed in the infirmary, knowing that she'd get more rest that way than if she'd been released to go home. Daniel was put to bed as well, but he hadn't regained consciousness, yet, so there wasn't really any other option, anyways. He was stable, though, and Janet told his very worried Commanding Officer that he'd be fine. He just needed rest.  
  
"When's he going to wake up?"  
  
"When he's ready."  
  
"You're sure he's going to be okay?"  
  
"Yes. I've seen worse injuries." She'd seen worse injuries on all of them. But it didn't mean it wasn't serious.  
  
"Why can't I take Sam home?"  
  
"She needs her rest."  
  
"She could rest-"  
  
"Colonel. No."  
  
Damn.  
  
"You need to let Sally know..." Sam said from her bed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"She needs to know." Sam sighed, knowing full well that Sally was probably pretty pissed off at Daniel – and the others, too, maybe – for running out like that, and she needed to know why Daniel wasn't going to call her to apologize that evening.  
  
"I can't tell her-"  
  
"You can tell her he's been hurt. She needs to know. _I'd_ want to know, if it were me."  
  
"What am I supposed to say?"  
  
"Think of something, Jack. You're better at that kind of thing than I am."  
  
O'Neill looked at Carter, then over at Teal'c, helplessly. Why did he have to tell her?  
  
"Maybe we can just have Daniel call when he wakes up..."  
  
"That's not going to do it, Jack. She needs to know he's been hurt. Maybe she can even visit..."  
  
"Here?"  
  
Sam shrugged. "The infirmary isn't classified."  
  
Jack thought that over for a moment, then shrugged as well. "I'll see what Hammond says." Chances were she wasn't going to want to see Daniel anyway. He'd be surprised if she even wanted to talk to Jack, and he'd only pissed her off once. Daniel had a bad string of luck going. 


	10. 10

He _had_ to go to her house. As much as he would have liked taking the easy way out and calling her over the phone, he didn't know her phone number. So he had to go talk to her face to face. So he stopped in and checked on Daniel once more before he went, just to make sure he had the absolute latest update on his condition, and then went and gathered up Jaffer – who'd go ballistic if he knew Jack was off base without him – and headed for Sally's house.  
  
He'd been there once, with Daniel, but only for a moment, and he'd stayed in the car. Still, Jack was impressed with himself that he remembered how to get there, and he pulled the truck up along the street and parked behind Daniel's car, looking at Sally's house and wishing Sam were with him. She was a lot better at these things than Jack was, and besides, she knew Sally a bit better.  
  
The sun was going down, but there were lights on in her windows, proving that she was most likely there and he wouldn't be able to use that as an excuse to avoid this. Belatedly thinking that he probably should have changed out of his dusty BDUs, Jack let Jaffer out of the truck and headed for the door, and rang the bell.  
  
She opened the door almost immediately, and was truly surprised to see Jack standing there.  
  
"Hi, Jack. Is your _emergency_ over?"  
  
Oh, yeah. Jack didn't know her well, but he knew mad when he saw it. She was _mad_.  
  
"Um... kind of." He looked over her shoulder into the house, uncomfortably. "Uh... can I come in? I need to talk to you."  
  
"No. What, did Daniel run out of his own excuses and send _you_ to lie for him, this time?"  
  
Yeah, she was mad. He didn't need her to cross her arms over her breasts like she was for Jack to know she was mad.  
  
"Uh, listen... I _know_ you're mad. But..."  
  
"But _what_, Jack? You know, I'm _not_ stupid. I know when I'm being lied to. I don't know exactly what an archeologist has to do with deep space telemetry, but I'm willing to bet that the answer is _absolutely nothing_, which means that either he's not really an archeologist, or you're not really in deep space telemetry."  
  
Yeah. Jack rubbed his face, tiredly, and changed the subject as quickly as he could.  
  
"Daniel's been hurt."  
  
"We've _all_ been hurt, Jack. Relationships do that to-"  
  
"Not _hurt_. Hurt. Injured. Hurt. Wounded."  
  
"What? How?"  
  
"Yeah... uh... I can't tell you that."  
  
"_What_? Why not? Is it serious? Where is he?"  
  
That concern told Jack she had feelings for Daniel, at least, and that they weren't all negative.  
  
"Can I come in?"  
  
She moved to the side to allow him and Jaffer room to walk past her, and Jack looked around uncomfortably, trying to figure out what he could and couldn't tell her.  
  
"Nice place..."  
  
"Where is he, Jack? Is he going to be all right?"  
  
A small dark shape peeked its head out from a corner, and a moment later a very tiny kitten came into view, its head up and its tail up as it walked into the room to see who had invaded its territory. Jaffer eyed it with interest, his tail wagging idly as the kitten came over and looked up at him. Way up. Obviously, though, it wasn't worried about the black lab hurting it, because there was no hissing or spitting, and when Jaffer lowered his nose to sniff it, the kitten didn't so much as move.  
  
"He's not going to hurt her, is he?" Sally asked, slightly anxious.  
  
"Nah."  
  
Jack was grateful for the distraction, but Sally scooped up the kitten and went over and set her on the back of the couch, where she was now just slightly higher than Jaffer, who walked over and continued checking it out.  
  
"You didn't answer my question, Jack." Sally said, once she was positive Jaffer wasn't going to hurt her kitten.  
  
There were so many he hadn't answered. Jack wondered which one she meant. He picked the easiest.  
  
"He'll be fine. He just hasn't woken up, yet. Otherwise I'm sure he would have called you."  
  
"He's unconscious?"  
  
"Yeah, but don't worry. The doctor says he's going to be all right, and she's top notch."  
  
"What happened?" She asked, and then raised a hand towards him to stop him from answering. "And _don't_ tell me you can't tell me. I want to know."  
  
"There are some things I can't tell you, Sally."  
  
"Can't or won't?"  
  
"Can't."  
  
"Then tell me what you can."  
  
"He really _is_ an archeologist."  
  
She smiled, slightly, for the first time since he'd arrived. "I know that, Jack. I've read his books, and he's far too knowledgeable on the subject to not be. Which means you and Sam aren't really doing deep space telemetry?"  
  
Jack shrugged. "Yeah, well... What do I know about deep space telemetry?"  
  
"Nothing?"  
  
"Less than that, I assure you."  
  
"So what do you do?"  
  
"Well, it's kind of classified," Jack said. "Actually, it's _really_ classified."  
  
"And Daniel does this, too?"  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
"Is he in the military?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you?"  
  
"Oh, yes."  
  
"Sam?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Murray?"  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
"How did Daniel get hurt?"  
  
"Some friends of ours were... ambushed, and we had to go help get them out."  
  
"Ambushed?"  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
"With guns and such?"  
  
Jack shrugged. "We had guns... the... bad guys have a different kind of gun."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah. That's what Daniel was hit with. But don't worry. It didn't kill him, and if you don't die immediately, then usually you're okay. We wear vests..." He pulled up the front of his shirt, showing her the bandages that were covering his own staff weapon injury obtained only the day before. "I got hit with one the other day, and I'm already on my feet. See?"  
  
She walked over and held his shirt up, and actually ran her hand along the bandage until she reached the padded area on his back, where the wound was. "That's not a gunshot bandage."  
  
"I told you it wasn't a gun, Sally," Jack said, stepping back and pulling his shirt down.  
  
"It's like what you'd use on a burn..."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"When did you get that?"  
  
"Yesterday. But it wasn't very serious. My vest took most of the hit."  
  
"Yesterday when Daniel was supposed to be meeting my parents?"  
  
Jack nodded. 


	11. 11

Author's Note: Sally isn't as well developed because I haven't used her since the Campers first story... She'll grow! (If I decided to bring her in on the secret) You just never know

..............................

"So that's where he was?"  
  
Jack nodded again.  
  
"In the same place your friends were ambushed today?"  
  
"Uh... no."  
  
"Where were you?"  
  
"I can't really tell you that."  
  
"Classified?"  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
"And today?"  
  
"Um... classified."  
  
"_Jack_!"  
  
"Sally, I'm sorry. I'm really going out on a limb telling you what I'm telling you."  
  
"South America?" She guessed. "Daniel speaks Spanish."  
  
"He speaks Russian and German, too, as I recall," Jack said. "But we weren't there, either."  
  
"Jack..."  
  
"I _can't_ tell you, Sally."  
  
"Is he really going to be okay?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"In the infirmary. At Cheyenne Mountain."  
  
"Can I go see him?"  
  
O'Neill hesitated, and Sally scowled.  
  
"I want to make sure he's okay, Jack."  
  
"And if I tell you he's going to be fine...?"  
  
"_You're_ not a doctor."  
  
"Maybe I am."  
  
"You're not." She was certain about this.  
  
"No, I'm not." Jack shrugged. "You'd have to sign a confidentiality form. Anything you see, you can't share with anyone." He'd already cleared it with General Hammond, but he wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting into, and he wanted her to know he was serious.  
  
"I won't say a word to anyone. I'll sign whatever you give me."  
  
"I don't know if the doctors will let you see him, but we can try..."  
  
She nodded, and Jack thought that at least she wasn't looking mad anymore. Which was a plus.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
Jaffer turned from the kitten he'd been sniffing when he heard the word '_go'_ and the kitten was so surprised by the sudden move she fell off the couch. Or would have, if her claws hadn't caught the fabric of the couch before she could, leaving her dangling over the edge.  
  
"Right now?" Sally asked, reaching over and picking her kitten off the side of the couch before her claws gave way and she fell. Obviously, Sally was used to her kitten getting itself into trouble and pulling her out of it before she could get hurt.  
  
"You'd rather worry all night?"  
  
Good point.  
  
"No. I'll come with you."  
  
She handed Jack the kitten. "Let me turn off the stove."  
  
Jack looked at the tiny creature in his hand, and down at Jaffer, who had never been that little.  
  
"We're not taking the cat, are we?" He called, since she'd disappeared down the hall. "Daniel's allergic to cats..."  
  
"No, we're not taking her. Just hold her so she doesn't get into any trouble. I'll be right there."  
  
Yeah, _he_ was the one to keep her out of trouble. Jack wondered if Daniel had mentioned to her just how much trouble he had keeping Jaffer out of trouble. Jaffer was watching the kitten closely, but Jack shook his head.  
  
"_You_ can't keep her, so don't even ask."  
  
The black lab snorted, making O'Neill smile. It was kind of cute; just as black as Jaffer, although she had a splash of white on her chest that would never be seen on Jack's baby.  
  
"I'm ready."  
  
Sally had reappeared, and took the kitten from Jack, setting her on the couch where she'd be out of the way, and then heading for the door, followed by Jack and Jaffer.  
  
"Should I follow you?"  
  
"No, just get in the truck." He opened the door for her, and she got in without argument. Jack let Jaffer in behind his seat, then got behind the wheel. "I'll bring you home – or someone will."  
  
..................  
  
Jack's truck was well known, and the black lab sitting behind him in the truck was just as well known, but the woman sitting beside him wasn't. Instead of just waving him through the gate with a salute, the Corporal waved for him to stop. It was okay, though. Jack had made sure that Sally's name was on the visitor's list at every checkpoint into the base. Just in case. She handed the Corporal her ID, and after carefully checking her picture to her name, then checking his list once more, the Marine nodded, and handed her back her driver's license.  
  
"Thank you, Sir."  
  
"No problem, Corporal."  
  
Jack drove through the gate.  
  
"I don't think I've ever been scrutinized so thoroughly," Sally said, looking back at the gate as they passed it.  
  
"Oh, it gets a _lot_ more thorough," Jack warned her as he pulled into his parking space, and stopped the truck.  
  
Sure enough, the deeper they got into the mountain the more security they found, and Sally was amazed at just how carefully she was studied by the grim-faced Marines that manned every checkpoint. Whatever it was they were guarding, there was no doubt by now that Jack had been right to say it was classified. She wondered what in the world could be so important that it had to be so well guarded.  
  
"What do you do, Jack?" Sally finally asked, unable to control her curiosity any further.  
  
"I can't tell you, Sally... I'm sorry."  
  
He _looked_ sorry, too. She had to admit it. He probably did want to tell her, if only to keep her from asking him every ten minutes. She looked around her as they headed for yet another elevator, walking close to him, because she was feeling pretty uneasy in such a tightly secured area.  
  
"But Daniel does it, too?"  
  
Jack shrugged. "Sometimes. Really, _he's_ more important here than I am." Which was true enough, since Jack didn't do translations and Daniel did.  
  
"But you outrank him?"  
  
"He's not in the military, Sally. But yes, I can usually tell him what to do, and most of the times, I can even bully him into doing it."  
  
"How could you let him get hurt?"

She saw the bleak look in his eyes that her question produced, and was sorry immediately. Obviously, he hadn't wanted Daniel to be hurt. "I'm sorry, Jack. That wasn't how I meant for it to come out..."  
  
The elevator opened, and Jack motioned for her to precede him into it, with Jaffer following her. He hit a button, and she saw that they were still going down. Wherever they were going to end up, it was deep underground. The desolate look was still in his normally cheerful brown eyes, and Sally tried again.  
  
"Jack... _really_, I-"  
  
"It's okay, Sally." It wasn't, but he knew she probably hadn't meant anything with the question. "He's on my team, and I did a shitty job of getting him home safe. Sam was hurt, too."  
  
"She was?"  
  
He nodded. "She'll be fine, though. It wasn't serious. They're just keeping her overnight to make sure."  
  
They rode the rest of the way in silence, and Sally knew that the silence was her own fault. When the door opened, though, he gave her a forced smile, and motioned for her to follow Jaffer, who was already on his way out the door.  
  
"This is our stop."


	12. 12

Sally looked around the infirmary as Jack led her into it. It looked like a big hospital room to her, with more than one bed, but large curtains around them – most of them open, and the beds she could see all empty. A woman dressed in a white lab coat walked over to them as Jack led her into the infirmary. She smiled at Sally, but then frowned when she looked down at Jaffer.  
  
"Don't let him up on my beds, Colonel."  
  
It seemed to Sally that there was a note of resignation in her voice, as though this was something she said often.  
  
"Doctor Janet Fraiser, may I introduce Sally Longford? She's... Daniel's..." Jack looked over at Sally, unsure how Sally wanted to be identified.  
  
"I'm his girlfriend," Sally said, holding her hand out to the doctor, who she saw was wearing a uniform under her lab coat. Obviously, she was a military doctor, and Sally wondered if they shook hands, or if she wanted to be saluted. Fraiser took her hand with a smile, though, and shook it.  
  
"I've heard a lot about you, Miss Longford. It's nice to meet you."  
  
"I've heard about you, too, Doctor. And please, call me Sally."  
  
"Call me Janet, then."  
  
Jaffer's nose had already found Sam, and while the two were shaking hands, Jack had drifted over to the bed Carter was resting in, her injured leg hidden by the blanket that was covering her to the waist.  
  
"How are you doing?" Jack asked, reaching down and taking her hand. Jaffer jumped up on the bed beside Sam, and Fraiser scowled as she walked over with Sally to join them.  
  
"Colonel..."  
  
Jack let go of Sam's hand, and looked over at Fraiser. "I'm going to go inform the General that our company's here. I'll be back in a minute."  
  
"Don't forget your dog," Fraiser said.  
  
Jack looked down at Jaffer, who had his head contentedly on Sam's lap, and already had his eyes closed in appreciation of Sam's gentle petting.  
  
"He's comfortable, Doc. I wouldn't want to disturb him, would _you_?"  
  
"_Colonel_..."  
  
"I'll be right back."  
  
He walked out the door without looking around, and Jaffer opened his eyes and watched Jack go, obviously debating whether to join him or not.  
  
"You'd better go keep him company, Jaffer," Sam said. The black lab stood up and jumped off the bed far more gracefully than what seemed possible for a dog his size, and trotted out of the room.  
  
"Some day that dog is going to do what _I_ tell him, and the whole world is going to ice over," Fraiser complained, shaking her head.  
  
Sally smiled and looked down at Sam, who was sitting up in her bed with pillows supporting her.  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
"What did Jack tell you?"  
  
"That you and Daniel were shot with strange weapons that aren't guns, and that someone was ambushed." She hesitated. "I think I've upset him, Sam... Well, no... I'm _sure_ I upset him."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I asked him why he let Daniel get hurt. I didn't even know _you_ were hurt."  
  
Sam nodded. Yup, that explained why Jack didn't look quite as cheerful as he usually did when Jaffer annoyed Janet, _and_ why he didn't stick around. He'd wandered off to get away from Sally. And the reminder of how right he thought she was, since Sam being in bed would have been an instant affirmation of just how Jack had failed to bring his team home safe.  
  
"He'll get over it, Sally." Sam said, patting the edge of her bed. "Sit down for a minute."  
  
She did, looking around. "Is Daniel really going to be all right?"  
  
Sam looked up at Fraiser, drawing Sally's attention there as well. Janet nodded.  
  
"He's unconscious, but I expect he'll wake up anytime, and he's not seriously hurt. It's painful, but not life-threatening."  
  
"And Sam?"  
  
"She took a staff wound to the upper leg." Janet said. "A staff weapon makes a wound a lot like a burn. Painful, but it was only a glancing blow, so she'll be fine, too. I would let her go home tonight, except that she wouldn't get any rest."  
  
"I'd be well taken care of, though." Sam objected.  
  
Janet shrugged.  
  
"Can I see Daniel?"  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Colonel O'Neill argues with me, Sally. _You_ can't. I'll let you see him as soon as General Hammond says it's okay."  
  
"He says it's okay."  
  
They all turned to see that Jack and Jaffer had returned, and Jack was holding a piece of paper in his hand, which he handed to Sally, along with a pen.  
  
"Sign this, Sally, please." He explained to her what it meant, and how by signing it she was giving her word – on the penalty of treason – that she wouldn't share with anyone what she saw or heard on the base. While he explained it, Jaffer hopped back up onto Sam's bed, more than willing to spend a little more time with his second favorite person in the world. Especially since she was in a petting mode.  
  
Sally read the paper carefully, found it to be exactly what Jack said – no more, no less – and put her name at the bottom of it, then dated it.  
  
"So, now do I get to find out what you do, Jack?" She asked, extending an olive branch for her thoughtless question in the elevator.  
  
"Some of it. Maybe." Jack shrugged, but he didn't look quite as upset as he had when he'd left. "We'll see. First, maybe Doctor Fraiser can take you to see Daniel..."  
  
Sally looked at Janet, who nodded. It would also give Jack and Sam a little alone time, something he obviously needed. Hopefully it would clear out the last of his bad mood.  
  
"Sure. Just remember, he's not going to be awake and talking, but he'll be okay." 


	13. 13

Fraiser led Sally to another room, just off the main one. This room was a private area, with only one bed and a lot of monitors beeping and whirring. Daniel was lying in the bed, covered warmly and looking far paler than Sally had ever seen him looking before.  
  
"Don't worry, it looks a lot worse than it is." Janet reassured her, walking over and checking his IV.  
  
Sally walked over as well, hesitantly putting her hand on Daniel's, and looking down at him.  
  
"He..." He looked awful. Even unconscious his face held a pained expression, and she moved the blanket that was covering him a little, exposing the bandages that were covering his side. "You're sure he's going to be all right?"  
  
"Positive. I've seen him hurt worse."  
  
"Really? When?"  
  
"I'm afraid I can't-"  
  
"Classified?"  
  
Janet nodded.  
  
"You'll have to ask Colonel O'Neill. He knows what he's allowed to say and what he isn't."  
  
Sally sighed, and looked down at Daniel again.  
  
"I'm going to leave you alone, okay?" Janet said. "I need to take care of a couple reports, and I can get it done before I have to go argue with the Colonel about taking Major Carter home."  
  
"Do you argue with Jack a lot?"  
  
Fraiser nodded, and then smiled. "Usually when someone's hurt, or when he's worried about someone. In this case, with Sam and Daniel both down, I'm in for a lot of arguing. Especially since Sam's not going home tonight." It was obvious to Sally that she wasn't all that worried about it, but she didn't say anything. "You'll be okay?"  
  
Sally nodded.  
  
Janet left the room, closing the door quietly behind her, and Sally carefully sat herself down on the edge of Daniel's bed, still holding his hand.  
  
.................  
  
"He's going to be fine..."  
  
Sally looked up at the voice, startled when she heard Jack's voice over her shoulder. She hadn't even heard him enter the room. The fact that he was standing right behind her was even more spooky. She was usually pretty good at knowing what was going on around her, and O'Neill had appeared like a ghost. She wiped her eyes, trying to do it without him noticing, but she was certain Jack saw everything that happened around him, and it was confirmed when he reached into his pocket and handed her a tissue.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
He nodded, and went around to the other side of the bed, giving her a chance to regain control, and looking down at Daniel with a concerned look in his dark eyes.  
  
"Fraiser says he'll be okay."  
  
"He's still out."  
  
"He's a lot tougher than he looks, Sally."  
  
"How's Sam?"  
  
Jack scowled. "Fraiser says she has to stay the night."  
  
"She told me that, too." She looked around. "Where's Jaffer?"  
  
"With Sam. I won't bring him in here, in case he jumped up on the bed. He does it because it annoys Janet, which amuses me, but if he jumped up on Daniel's bed, he might cause him some pain, and I won't risk it. Besides, Daniel's allergic to Jaffer."  
  
"He's allergic to Binky, too."  
  
"Binky?"  
  
"My kitten."  
  
Jack snorted.  
  
She smiled, slightly, and blew her nose. "I wish he'd wake up."  
  
"Me, too. Then I could yell at him for worrying me."  
  
"You'd have to stand in line."  
  
"I'm his CO, I get first crack at him."  
  
"I'm his girlfriend. I have priority."  
  
"We'll flip a coin for it later," Jack told her.  
  
Her smile was bigger, this time, and she nodded, feeling a little better. If Jack was able to joke about it, maybe Daniel really wasn't hurt all that badly.  
  
"Fraiser said you have to let him rest."  
  
"But I haven't been here all that long."  
  
Jack shrugged. She'd been with Daniel for half an hour. It was longer than Janet would have given Jack with him. It was longer than she'd been planning on giving him with Sam, but Jaffer had run interference for him, and Jack had gained a few extra minutes.  
  
"She kicked me out of the infirmary, too." He said. "Are you hungry?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"Well, I am, so you can come watch me eat."  
  
"Why would I do that?"  
  
"Because it's the only way I'll answer your questions."  
  
"Oh. In that case, I'm starving."  
  
Jack smiled, and came back to her side of the bed, and offered her his arm, in a similar manner to the way he'd offered his arm to Sam only that very morning. She stood up and took it, but hesitated and looked back down at Daniel.  
  
"Come on. Time waits for no man, and neither does pie."  
  
She smiled, and leaned against him for just a moment, stealing a little much needed comfort from him. Jack wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close for a moment, a little uncomfortable, but knowing that she wouldn't have leaned if she didn't need to be held, and willing to be the one to reassure her at that moment. Besides, he liked Sally, and didn't want her to worry.  
  
"Is there a place to eat someplace close?" She asked a moment later, once more drying her eyes.  
  
"I know just the spot."  
  
He hugged her once more, then led her towards the door, whistling for Jaffer as he passed through the infirmary, and waiting just long enough for the big black lab to come trotting over from the direction of Carter's bed.  
  
"Good night, Colonel." Sam called, her voice filled with good humor.  
  
"Good night, Major." He replied. "I'll see you first thing in the morning."  
  
"No you won't." Came Doctor Fraiser's voice, and she came around the corner, and shooed the three of them out of her infirmary. "I don't want to see either of you until at least 0800 tomorrow. Unless something changes, and if it does, I'll page you, Colonel."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Out."  
  
"Come on, Sally..." Jack said, his arm still around her shoulder. "We'll just wait for her to fall asleep and sneak back in later..."  
  
Sally chuckled, despite her concerns, and allowed O'Neill to steer her out of the infirmary, Jaffer close beside them, and Fraiser watching until they vanished down the hall. 


	14. 14

Sally was amazed by the amount of food Jack had on his tray. The guy was hardly a heavyweight, after all, and he had three entire sandwiches, a bowl of soup, a half dozen vanilla wafers, a piece of pie and an entire pot of coffee all balanced precariously on his tray. She couldn't remember seeing him eat that much food any of the few times that she'd been to his house since camp, and knew he hadn't eaten like that at camp. Of course, he'd been so battered at camp; she was surprised he'd had any appetite at all, but still...  
  
"Hungry?" She asked, smiling as she gathered up a sandwich, some soup and a piece of the pie. It looked delicious, and she was suddenly starved.  
  
He smiled, and led her over to a table, followed closely by Jaffer, who knew that a lot of the food on that tray was going to be his.  
  
"I haven't eaten all day," Jack told her as he sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot he'd brought over, and then poured one for her as well.  
  
"I was just starting dinner when you came over," she told him, adding cream to her coffee and taking an appreciative sip.  
  
"For you and Binky?" He asked, smiling.  
  
She returned the smile. "Binky is too young for stroganoff just yet, Jack. Maybe when she's a little older..." She watched as Jack began ripping one of his sandwiches into pieces, and realized that it wasn't because he was a neat freak; it was because he was going to feed it to Jaffer. "Are you sure that's good for him?"  
  
O'Neill tossed a piece of the sandwich to the black lab who caught it effortlessly. "He's been eating here since he was a puppy, Sally. If he was going to keel over, he would have done it by now. Murray's dog, Jack, eats the food here, too."  
  
She couldn't argue with him. Jaffer was a very happy and healthy looking dog, so maybe the food agreed with him. She took a bite of her soup, and found it to be good, even though it had obviously been sitting in the warmer for a while, since the cafeteria Jack had taken her to was deserted, and looked as though it had been for a while. Of course, she didn't know how late the people on a top-secret military base stayed, so everyone had probably gone home for the night.  
  
"Do you eat here often?" She asked. "Or is that _classified_?"  
  
O'Neill smiled.  
  
"I eat here more than I eat at home." He admitted, handing the rest of the ripped up sandwich down to Jaffer on a saucer.  
  
"Not much of a cook, huh?"  
  
"No, not really. I prefer to cook when I have someone to cook for, and Jaffer's not all that picky about what he eats." Yeah, wasn't _that_ an understatement?  
  
"What about Sam?"  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"You don't like to cook for her?"  
  
"Sure I do."  
  
"She comes over a lot, doesn't she?"  
  
Jack hesitated, then took a sip of his coffee. "That's _classified_."  
  
She smiled. "I signed your _paper_."  
  
"There isn't a paper you could sign to get me to answer that question. Or any like it." His brown eyes were smiling, now, though, so Sally knew it wasn't quite that bad.  
  
"But you'll answer other questions for me?"  
  
"Some." He nodded. "As long as you realize that-"  
  
"It's all _classified_?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Where were you when Daniel and Sam were hurt?"  
  
"Standing beside Daniel and a little behind Sam."  
  
"That's not what I meant." She said. "Were you in South America?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Mexico?"  
  
"No."  
  
"There's no place else you could have been, Jack. Not if you got there and back in one day. It's impossible."  
  
"Ask me another question."  
  
"Meaning you're not going to answer that one?"  
  
"I'll answer that one later, Sally. After we're done eating."  
  
"Who ambushed your friends?"  
  
"Jaffa."  
  
She looked down at Jaffer, thinking Jack had said his name, only mispronounced it. He caught the look immediately, and smiled.  
  
"Not _Jaffer_. Jaffa. It... _they're_... a race of... people we've discovered in recent years."  
  
"What kind of people?"  
  
"Fairly alien," He told her, finishing the first of his sandwiches. "Not very nice, though."  
  
"_Alien_ as in odd?" She asked.  
  
"_Alien_ as in from another planet."  
  
"Bullshit."  
  
He smiled and started in on his other sandwich, ripping it in half and tearing up one half for Jaffer, who'd long since finished his.  
  
"You're serious?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Aliens? From other planets? On Earth?"  
  
"Some of them."  
  
"We've discovered another race of people and the Military is hiding them?"  
  
"Not exactly... well..." Jack shrugged, chewing his bite of sandwich slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. He knew he was just confusing her, and knew how much he was supposed to be able to tell her – which was far more than he'd expected Hammond to allow. Now it was just a matter of telling her in a way that wouldn't confuse her more. Good luck. He was sure Sam could have done a better job of it – or Daniel – but since they weren't there, and he was....  
  
"It's kind of complicated."  
  
"I bet."  
  
"Okay. A long time ago – during the ancient days – the people of Earth were all just hanging around, right?"  
  
She nodded, suddenly narrowing her eyes as a suspicion started dawning on her. Jack noticed the look and waited for whatever question was coming, wondering how she could have one, when all he'd said was one sentence.  
  
"Daniel's _right_?" She asked. "About the pyramids?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I read his books, Jack. I told you. He thinks the pyramids were just landing places for alien spacecraft... He thinks that aliens influenced the people of Earth far back in ancient times."  
  
"Yeah, he's right." Jack told her. "To a point."  
  
"_What_ point?"  
  
"Aliens didn't just influence people in the old days," Jack said. "They kidnapped a lot of them."  
  
"What?"  
  
He shrugged, unsure what else to call it. "They took them off the planet, to their worlds. As slaves." He wasn't ready to get into the Goa'uld.  
  
"In space ships that they used the pyramids to land on?" Her voice was a mixture of disbelief and awe, and Jack wasn't sure if she believed anything she was being told.  
  
"Yup."  
  
"So what do you need an archeologist for? Once he'd figured it out, there really isn't much more he can do, is there?"  
  
"We're occasionally finding proof of these people, Sally," he told her, starting on his pie and tossing the vanilla wafers to Jaffer. "Daniel speaks about a billion languages, so he's the best we've got when it comes to reading the papers and scrolls and whatever else we find. If he can read them, then we can try and get in touch with these people."  
  
"On other planets?" She wondered how he was managing to eat when they were discussing something so amazing. Her own soup and sandwich were both untouched, now. "How are... does the Military have a spaceship?"  
  
"Just the shuttles."  
  
"Then how are you finding these people? Are they coming to Earth? Why would they come after all these years? Not to mention even at light speed, they'd take hundreds of years for them to make it here from any of the known galaxies... much less one we haven't heard of, or don't know about..." She trailed off, noticing his eyes seemed to be glazing over, slightly. "Sorry."  
  
"I'm used to it," Jack told her, taking another bite of his pie. 


	15. 15

"So?"  
  
"So what?"  
  
"How are these people finding us? How are we finding them? If we don't have a _space ship_ capable of going to other planets – and the last I heard, the shuttles can't do that – then how are we contacting these aliens?"  
  
"Who told you that the shuttles can't...?"  
  
She smiled, "Jack, _I'm_ an engineer, remember? I know what they're capable of. It's hardly a secret, after all. Even if you were to put some crazy engine on one that could make it go faster than light – which I can't see the structure being able to handle that kind of velocity or pressure – then you'd still be looking at staggering distances."  
  
His eyes were glazing again, and he was beginning to think she should be having this conversation with Sam.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"We haven't altered a shuttle, okay?"  
  
"Then how are you-?"  
  
"Finish your dinner, and I'll show you."  
  
"I'm done."  
  
He looked at her plate. It wasn't anywhere close to being finished, but he shrugged. She was a grownup, if she said she was done, then she was done.  
  
"Come on, then. But remember –"  
  
"Yes, it's all _classified_. I know, Jack." She stood up and gathered her tray. He took her uneaten sandwich and handed it to Jaffer, who downed it more than willingly. The black lab hadn't eaten all that much that day, either.  
  
..................  
  
"I really can't stress enough just how big a secret this is..." Jack told her when they were standing in the hall once more.  
  
She nodded, feeling a bit apprehensive, but a little excited, as well. "I won't tell anyone."  
  
O'Neill took a card from his pocket, and slid it into a slot, and the door swooshed open, and he and Jaffer led her into a big concrete room with... nothing. She wasn't sure exactly what she expected to see; maybe some huge super computer or some crazy alien device that resembled a transporter from Star Trek, but what she saw was a simple metal ramp leading up to a big metal ring that had a whole bunch of drawings on it. Interesting, but hardly worthy of being in such a well-secured area.  
  
"What is it?" She asked, looking up at it, then around to see if there wasn't maybe something else in the room that she'd missed. Something a little more alien looking.  
  
Jack smiled, and turned her head back to the Stargate. Yeah, it wasn't all that impressive, he supposed. Until you knew what it did. And had seen it in action.  
  
"That's what you're looking for, Sally." He chided, gesturing at the gate. "It's called a Stargate."  
  
Sally walked up the ramp to take a closer look, but while she could see that the odd little drawings were probably something that would interest Daniel – or other people who liked glyphs and the like, she still didn't see the big deal.  
  
"What does it do?" There had to be something. Jack was grinning like a kid with a huge secret.  
  
"When it's turned on, it opens up a wormhole thing to another Stargate on a different planet."  
  
"A wormhole?"  
  
He shrugged. 'That's what they call it."  
  
"They _who_?"  
  
"Sam and the other eggheads."  
  
She was quiet for a moment, looking at it, and then at Jack.  
  
"It goes to other planets?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Mars?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Saturn?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Jupi-"  
  
"No. None of the close ones, Sally. Just planets that have Stargates on them, and only if we know the address to the Stargate that is there."  
  
"The address?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"You'll have to explain that a little more, Jack."  
  
He shrugged. "You'll have to wait and have someone who understand it a little better explain it to you. I'm not all that sure of how it works, exactly. All I know, is we dial it up, it swooshes open, and we go to other planets."  
  
"Where you find aliens?"  
  
"And some humans."  
  
"Descendents of the Earth people?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
She crossed her arms over her breasts again, and looked at him seriously from the top of the ramp.  
  
"Are you lying to me, Jack? Is this some kind of-"  
  
"I'm telling you what you asked, Sally. This morning one of the other teams – we call them SG teams – was ambushed on another planet, and since my team – which is SG-1 – was there a week ago or so, we were called away from our barbeque to go find them. While we were there – off-world – Daniel and Sam were both hurt, as well as one of SG-5's men. That's what Daniel's been hiding from you, and that's how he was hurt."  
  
She didn't look convinced, but Jack wasn't about to dial the gate up just to prove it to her.  
  
"You've gone through it?"  
  
"Lots of times."  
  
"Can we go through it now?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's dangerous. You don't always know what's going to be going on when you come out the other gate."  
  
Which would explain why a man like Jack would be involved, Sally decided. She'd never seen him with a gun, but she had a feeling that the Colonel – as everyone around the base referred to him – had plenty of experience with this type of thing.  
  
"How often do you go through it?"  
  
"Depends on the day."  
  
"This is a lot to take in, Jack..." Sally finally said, looking up at the Stargate. It looked so... unimpressive.  
  
"Yeah, I know. Just remember, you can't tell anyone."  
  
"I know." She shrugged, walking down the ramp to stand next to him and Jaffer, and noticing a window above them, and another one above that. Standing at the highest window was a bald man watching them with a serious look on his face. She could see it even at a distance. "Who's that?"  
  
Jack followed her gaze, and saw Hammond standing at the briefing room window that overlooked the gate room.  
  
"That's General Hammond. He's the Commanding Officer of the Stargate program. He's also the one who gave me permission to show you all this, so you might thank him when you see him."  
  
"Am I going to see him?"  
  
"That's our next stop." 


	16. 16

He led her out of the gate room and back to a staircase, which they climbed to the briefing room. Hammond was standing there, almost exactly in the same place he'd been standing when Sally had first noticed him. Although he turned when Jack, Jaffer and Sally entered the room.  
  
"General Hammond? May I introduce Sally Longford?"  
  
"A pleasure to meet you," Hammond said, holding out his hand, and giving her a mostly genuine smile. Of course, the fact that she had just been let in on the secret of Cheyenne Mountain was enough to make him a little wary around her, but he'd also read the background check the FBI had run on her long before, so he wasn't as concerned as he might have been.  
  
"General Hammond. It's nice to meet you, as well." Sally shook his hand. "Jack says it's you who allowed me to see your Stargate, and I'd like to thank you." She smiled, "I'm not sure I really understand exactly what I've been shown, but I do understand that it's a privilege to have seen it. So thank you."  
  
"You're welcome, Miss Longford. Doctor Fraiser has informed me that Doctor Jackson is going to be under constant care for a few days at least, and I thought it might not be a bad idea for you to understand why and how he was injured."  
  
"I appreciate that."  
  
"Doctor Fraiser kicked the two of us – three of us – out of the infirmary until tomorrow, Sir," Jack said. "So I'll take her home, and then probably be back."  
  
"You'll do no such thing, Colonel," Hammond said. "If you're _not_ allowed in the infirmary, then I don't see any reason for you to come back until tomorrow. You're excused for the rest of the evening."  
  
"But, Sir..." Jack had planned on sneaking back into the infirmary.  
  
"I mean it, Colonel. Go home and get some rest. I'm sure Doctor Fraiser will call you if something comes up."  
  
Damn.  
  
Hammond turned to Sally once more, content that Jack would obey him. "Miss Longford, I'll have your name put on the visitor's list at the check stations until Doctor Jackson is released from the infirmary. You won't have free access to the base, of course, but as long as you're with Colonel O'Neill here, you'll be able to come and visit him, at least."  
  
Sally smiled. "Thank you, General Hammond."  
  
"You're welcome." He turned to Jack once more. "I'm going home. I don't want to hear that you've snuck into the infirmary, Colonel. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
Jack scowled. "As crystal, Sir."  
  
Hammond smiled at Sally – this time it wasn't quite so strained – and left the room, and Jack turned to her.  
  
"Well. I guess we're done here for the night."  
  
She laughed and nodded. "I'd say he made that pretty clear." She followed Jack as he headed for the door. "You're taking me home?"  
  
"Yup. You don't want to leave Binky alone too long, do you?"  
  
"No.... but what if something happens? How will I know?" Her smile was gone, now.  
  
He led her to the elevators, mulling that over. "I'll call you."  
  
She nodded, and followed him as he led the way off the base, past the various checkpoints and the stern-faced Marines who guarded them. That really wasn't good enough for her, but she supposed it was going to have to be enough. After all, there wasn't much else she could do. If Jack wasn't allowed to stay on base – and he belonged there – there was no way they were going to let her.  
  
They were quiet while Jack drove her home, and Sally found out what everyone else who knew him already knew. Jaffer was good for petting when you were worried. The entire drive back to her house, Jaffer's head was resting on her shoulder, where she could reach back easily and rub his ears as she worried. Yeah, he drooled a little on her shoulder, but it was worth it.  
  
"Are you okay?" Jack asked when he pulled up behind Daniel's car once more. Although most of the people around him would never buy it, Jack wasn't quite as insensitive as many thought he was, and he could tell she was upset. Although at least she wasn't mad.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Just worried?"  
  
She nodded again, and shrugged. "I know that Doctor Fraiser said he'd be all right, it's just..."  
  
"I understand, Sally." God, who would understand better than him? "I'll tell you what, why don't you come over and spend the night tonight? I have a spare room you can sleep in, and then you and I can get back to the base first thing in the morning."  
  
She smiled, and shook her head.  
  
"That's okay, Jack. I... well, I couldn't."  
  
He shrugged, and got out of the truck, walking around to open the door for her.  
  
"You sure?" He asked as he walked with her up her front walk and to her door. "I'd even cook you breakfast."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"No, probably not. But I make a mean cup of coffee."  
  
She smiled. "You really wouldn't mind?"  
  
"Nope. I could use the company to distract me from worrying about Sam."  
  
Sally hadn't even thought about how worried Jack must be about Sam, even though she was awake and talking.  
  
"Then I accept."  
  
"Good."  
  
She had him sit down and make himself comfortable while she went to get some things gathered up, and Jack found himself being stared at by Binky, who had come once more to investigate who was in her house. Jaffer was there immediately, sticking his big nose against the kitten's little one, and this time the kitten reached up with her paw to play.  
  
"_That's_ not a very good idea," Jack murmured to the kitten, reaching over and picking her up. "He could inhale you without realizing it."  
  
"I'm ready."  
  
He stood up, and headed for the door, followed by Sally, who was carrying a small bag she'd put some clothes in, who was followed by Jaffer, who was carrying Binky in his mouth. The kitten was small enough that Jack almost missed it, except that there was a tail hanging down that didn't belong.  
  
"Jaffer..."  
  
The lab gave him an innocent look that Jack didn't buy for an instant. Sally turned around, looking back at the dog as well.  
  
"What's..."  
  
O'Neill reached down and took the slightly slobbered on kitten from Jaffer's mouth, and handed her to Sally, who smiled.  
  
"I didn't even notice." She looked Binky over for any injury, but Jack knew she wouldn't find anything. Jaffer had a soft mouth when it came to carrying stuff and as long as he wasn't trying to hurt something, he wouldn't.  
  
"Yeah, he's pretty sneaky, sometimes."  
  
"Maybe you should get him a kitten?" She smiled and set Binky on the couch, and the three left the house.  
  
"The last thing I need is a kitten." He smiled, took her bag and handed it to Jaffer, who carried it out to the truck, tail wagging, but still casting reproachful looks over his shoulder at Jack. A bag was fun to carry, but a kitten would have been far more interesting. 


	17. 17

Author's note: Jaffer is not getting a kitten. (although he might borrow Binky occasionally) I have enough crazy animals to write without writing more.

..................................

They had a fairly relaxing evening. Jack was good company when he put his mind to it, and even though Sally didn't know the difference, since she'd ever been his company before, she had a nice night because of it. He was quick to make her comfortable, and made sure that the spare bed was made, then left her to her own devices, making himself available if she wanted to talk or if she needed something, but aside from that, just leaving her alone.  
  
They didn't discuss the Stargate, or the base, since Jack had requested she leave any such questions or comments to the base, but he was more than willing to discuss Jaffer, who was always a conversation piece, and he ran the black lab through all the tricks that Sam had been planning to show her before she'd been interrupted much earlier that day. Although it felt like it had been weeks.  
  
Sally had been delighted with Jaffer's tricks, and the lab was more than willing to perform them. Especially for Jack. It was fairly late by the time their bag of tricks was empty, and by the time they were done, Sally had decided that Jack O'Neill was the proud owner of what had to be the smartest, best-trained dog in the world. It didn't seem there was anything Jaffer couldn't do, although Jack said he was learning new tricks every week.  
  
"I'm going to take a shower and go to bed," Jack told her, finally. "If you need anything, either ask or look through the house until you find it. Whichever you're most comfortable doing."  
  
"No _classified_ stuff in your house?"  
  
He smiled, and shook his head. "Nope." He pointed to his closet. "There is a handgun in there, though, just so you know."  
  
"I _won't_ snoop, Jack," Sally told him, smiling. "I think I'm going to go to bed. It's been a pretty long day."  
  
He nodded. "I'll see you in the morning, then."  
  
"Good night."  
  
........................  
  
"Sally?"  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"Wake up."  
  
Her eyes flew open at the sound of a strange male voice whispering in her ear, and she sat up quickly, before she realized that it was Jack who was crouched next to the bed she'd been sleeping in.  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing. The base just called. Daniel's awake." His dark eyes were unreadable in the gloom of the room, which was only lit with the light from the hallway. "Do you want to go see him? Or wait for morning?"  
  
It was obvious what Jack wanted, or he wouldn't have waked her.  
  
"No, can we go now?"  
  
"You should probably get dressed."  
  
She smiled, and nodded, and Jack left the room, turning on the light and shutting the door behind him. He needed to get dressed as well.  
  
......................  
  
"Did they say how he was doing?"  
  
"Just said he was awake." Jack told her as he opened the door for Jaffer to get into the seat behind his. "If something was wrong, though, they would have told me."  
  
She nodded, and didn't ask any more questions as they drove to the base, although the silence in the truck was far more comfortable than it had been when she'd been so worried. The streets were empty, since it was very early in the morning – almost 4 AM – and there were very few people coming or going at that time of day.  
  
The Marines at the checkpoints were the same ones that had been there when Jack and Sally had left the base hours before, but they were still just as cautious as they had been the first time. They still checked her ID, still made sure she signed in and still double-checked to make sure she was still on the list of Civilians who were allowed on base. Only when they were certain, was Sally allowed to get close to the elevator once more, no matter how impatient she was to see Daniel.  
  
"I get to see him first," Jack said as they entered the final elevator and he pushed the button. "I need to discuss a few things with him before he sees you."  
  
She nodded her understanding, which didn't mean she had to like it.  
  
"You can keep Jaffer occupied for me while I'm talking to him. I wouldn't trust him to stay off the bed."  
  
Joy.  
  
Jack smiled at the look on her face, but he didn't relent. He didn't really need to discuss anything with Daniel – although he would let him know that Sally had been let in on some of the secret and tell him what he should and shouldn't discuss with her once she came into the room.  
  
He made his way through the infirmary, stopping only long enough to stop at Sam's bed and found her sleeping soundly. Fraiser had probably given her a painkiller to help her sleep, which meant she wouldn't be much company until she slept it off. He made sure she was warmly covered, then headed for the door to Daniel's room, and was stopped cold when Fraiser came out, closing it behind her.  
  
"One at a time," she told him, looking at Jack and Sally. "And Jaffer stays out, since I know you won't keep him off the bed."  
  
"Aw, Doc. Jaffer wants to say hi."  
  
"Too bad. He can wait until Daniel's had a chance to recover a little more."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Colonel, I said no."  
  
Sally wondered why Jack was even arguing, since he'd already told her that he had no intention of taking Jaffer into the room with him, but she didn't say anything.  
  
"Fine." Jack looked at Sally, and there was a definite twinkle in his dark eyes. "Will you keep Jaffer occupied for me, Sally?"  
  
She smiled, and put her hand on Jaffer's head. She didn't have to lean down; she only had to reach down. She wasn't all that tall, anyways, and Jaffer was fairly large. "Sure, Jack."  
  
She wanted to tell him to be quick, but she didn't. He seemed to understand, though.  
  
"I won't be long." He disappeared into the room, closing the door behind him.  
  
Daniel was awake and sitting up, and he looked up when the door opened. Jack was glad to see him up, and glad to see he didn't look too bad. His eyes were a little glazed over – as if he were having trouble focusing – but that was normal enough for the medication he was on, and Jack knew it. He walked over and sat down on the edge of Daniel's bed, reaching over and pushing Daniel's bangs back from his forehead, in an uncharacteristically gentle act.  
  
"If you ever scare me like that again, I'll kick your ass."  
  
"I'm glad to see you, too, Jack," Daniel said, smiling tiredly.  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"Awful."  
  
"I have something that might cheer you up."  
  
"Yeah? Ice cream?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Coffee?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Coffee flavored ice cream?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You don't have anything I want, then."  
  
"Sally's outside."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Sally. She's outside the door, waiting to see you."  
  
"Here?" Daniel looked as though he thought Jack was playing a joke on him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he'd be doing that. "You brought her here?"  
  
Jack nodded. "We couldn't think of any way to explain why you were hurt, and Hammond decided that if you and Sally have been together this long, chances were she could be trusted with a little more information than you were giving her. God knows she deserved more than another lie, just for putting up with all your shit."  
  
"So he told her?"  
  
"_I_ told her." Jack corrected him. "After she signed a confidentiality paper."  
  
"What did you tell her?" Daniel was already numb.  
  
"Funny you should ask..." Jack said. "Let me tell you what she does know, and what she can't know."  
  
...................  
  
It was about fifteen minutes later when Jack opened the door and walked out of Daniel's room. Sally was sitting in a chair by the door, her arms around Jaffer, who was lapping up the attention like always. She was instantly on her feet.  
  
"Is he okay?"  
  
"He's fine," Jack said, smiling when Jaffer rushed over to say hi as if he hadn't seen Jack in days, instead of just minutes. "You can go see him."  
  
She disappeared into the room, and Jack reached in and closed the door behind her, figuring she needed a little private time with him. Not too much, of course, but some.  
  
"Are you sure that's wise?" Fraiser asked, pointedly. "He's not exactly wide awake. What if he tells her something he shouldn't?"  
  
"He's awake, Doc. I talked to him enough to know. Besides, she's been pretty patient – way better than I could have."  
  
"Yeah, but-"  
  
"Relax, Doc," Jack said with a smile, plopping down in the chair that Sally had just vacated, and rubbing Jaffer's ears. "Sally doesn't _know_ it yet, but she's going to be given a new classification of civilian advisor."  
  
"What?"  
  
"According to the FBI – among other agencies that have done their homework on her – she has two degrees in Engineering and Theoretical Mathematics. _I_ knew that, but I'd forgotten, but Hammond figures that if she's interested, she can join the SGC in a Civilian role and probably add a few IQ points to the mix around here."  
  
"Really?"  
  
Jack shrugged, and rested his cheek on the top of Jaffer's head.  
  
"She's dated Daniel for two years, so it's obvious she's going to stick around – although I can't imagine what she sees in him – so why not let her in on the secret? At least some of it. That way Daniel's not stressing out about what lie he's got to tell her, and he's not worrying about her being mad at him while he's on a mission, when his mind definitely needs to be on what he's doing. It works well for us, this way, and works well for him."  
  
Janet was watching Jack carefully, her arms crossed over her breasts. "You know what I think, Colonel?" She said, finally. "I think you're full of shit. I think you just want Daniel to be happy, and the best way to make him happy is to let her know what's going on."  
  
"What?" He scowled and tried to look like he didn't know what she was talking about.  
  
"Oh, give me the innocent look all you want," She said, smiling. Now she was sure she was right. "I think you went to Hammond and asked him to let you tell her."  
  
"I wouldn't do that." Jack said, standing up. "You seriously _think_ I'd put the biggest secret on Earth out in the open just so Daniel would stop looking so miserable all the time?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
Jack scowled, again.  
  
"I'm going to the commissary."  
  
Fraiser grinned. She was _so_ right!  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To see if they have any ice cream in the freezers."  
  
"It's a little early for ice cream, isn't it?"  
  
Jack didn't answer; he was already on his way across the infirmary, with Jaffer close at his side, and Fraiser could hear him muttering under his breath even as he closed the door behind him.


	18. Epilogue

Author's Note: Yup, Sally has two degrees (which I actually mentioned in the first Campers! story. I just had to go back and reread it so I knew what the degrees were in)  
  
_Epilogue_  
  
"Guys! Dinner's ready."  
  
Jack and Daniel looked over at the sound of Sally's voice coming from her kitchen. They were both dressed once again in slacks, button down shirts and ties, but this time _they_ weren't the ones doing the cooking. Sam and Sally had decided they'd celebrate Daniel's release from the infirmary with a nice relaxing dinner at Sally's house, and had proceeded to make the plans. It had escalated, though, and soon it wasn't such a relaxing dinner, it was a more formal affair, with the women wearing dresses and the guys told to 'dress nice' when they were given the final time and location of the meal.  
  
No biggie. Even Jack didn't mind dressing up occasionally, especially for Sam. He was wearing dark slacks this time and a white shirt, and Daniel was wearing khaki slacks and a white shirt, and both had been in the living room, watching Jaffer pin Binky down on the couch so he could do some serious cleaning. By the time Sally called them, Binky's fuzzy black hide was slobbered thoroughly and was plastered to her sides, making her look like a little rat with huge pointed ears.  
  
"That kitten is going to need therapy," Daniel complained as they stood up and Jack rescued her from Jaffer.  
  
"Yeah, like she wasn't going to the minute Sally named her '_Binky'_?"  
  
"Actually, Jack," Daniel said, reaching over and taking the kitten from him. "_I_ named her Binky."  
  
"It's a great name, Daniel..." Jack rolled his eyes, and no one would have believed him. Not with the sarcasm oozing like it was.  
  
"What's wrong with it?"  
  
"_Binky_?" That said it all. Jack grinned and shook his head, and like any good commander, led the way into the kitchen.  
  
Sally's house didn't have a dining room. It had a big nook, though, and that nook held a fairly large oak table that was set for their dinner. Her and Sam had placed a white tablecloth over the fine wood to protect it, and then had set the table with Sally's best china – which was _real_ china and not just matching plates like Jack had at his house. It looked great, which only accentuated the fact that the kitchen smelled delicious.  
  
Sam smiled when Jack walked in and slid an arm around his waist, careful not to rub the half-healed burn on the small of his back, and Jack leaned over and kissed the top of her head gently.  
  
"Smells good," he whispered, watching as Daniel hugged Sally and she led him over to the table.  
  
"Come eat, you guys," Sally told Sam and Jack, gesturing for Jack to sit down in the chair next to the wall, and smiling fondly at him while she watched Sam settle next to him. Sally had a special love for Jack that she wouldn't admit to him – even under torture. Jack was the one who'd come to her when Daniel was hurt, after all. Of course, Sam would have, if she hadn't been hurt, too, but it'd been Jack. Jack was the one that spent the day with her, trying to explain what she knew now he didn't really understand all that well – although she suspected he understood more than he let on. She also knew now just how busy he really was, and for him to have spent so much time with her that day was just another reason Sally loved him. Not the same way she loved Daniel, of course. But there wasn't another word she could think of to describe it.  
  
Add to that the fact that she was pretty sure he was the one who'd decided to let her in on the secret of the SGC – which had managed to keep her from going crazy and killing Daniel, and Sally figured she owed Jack a lot. And dinner would be a small way to start repaying that debt, whether he knew she was repaying it or not.  
  
"Smells great," Daniel said, sitting down and looking at the food that was spread out in front of him. Roast beef, potatoes, corn, hot rolls and all the trimmings. His mouth was watering.  
  
"You two have outdone yourselves," Jack agreed, reaching under the table to put his hand on Sam's thigh. Not to make a move on her, he just wanted to touch her. Sam smiled, and rested her hand over his.  
  
"Thanks. As long as we're not interrupted..."  
  
Jack shrugged, watching as Sally made a plate for Jaffer so he wouldn't feel left out. "There's no one off-world, so we should be okay. Don't give him any corn, Sally, he won't eat it."  
  
"I thought he ate _anything_?"  
  
"He will. Except corn."  
  
Well, of course that was like a gauntlet being thrown. Sally had to find out for herself that Jaffer wouldn't eat corn. She couldn't believe it. How would he know the difference if she covered the corn in gravy? Jack smiled and shook his head as he watched her put some corn on the plate anyways, and then cover it with potatoes and gravy, then mix that up with some slices of beef.  
  
"He won't eat the corn."  
  
"He'll eat it for _me_, won't you, Jaffer?"  
  
Jaffer wagged his tail, looking at the plate as Sally sat it down on the floor. He'd eat for Sally, sure! He'd eat for _anyone_. He started eating, contentedly, and then realized somewhere in that doggie genius mind of his that, _hey_! She put that one stuff he didn't like under the potatoes! The potatoes were good, though. And the gravy was good! And the meat... yummy. But Jaffer wasn't going to eat that other stuff. As Jack watched in amusement, and Sally watched in amazement, Jaffer picked his way through all the corn, leaving it on the plate while still managing to clean the potatoes and gravy.  
  
"I told you."  
  
"That's crazy."  
  
"He won't eat it. I don't know why."  
  
"Not even for _you_?"  
  
"Not even for _Sam_. And Jaffer will do anything for Sam."  
  
She shook her head, and sat down next to Daniel, still smiling. Eccentric dog. He fit in perfect at the SGC, as far as Sally was concerned. She was still learning about the place – and hadn't actually decided whether or not to take the position that General Hammond had offered her – but she had to admit that she liked the people that Daniel worked with, and not just the ones that were on SG-1.  
  
She just wasn't all that sure she wanted to know when Daniel was going off- world all the time. It was going to make her worry about him until he returned – although she'd already heard from some of the others that Colonel O'Neill never left anyone behind. If Daniel went through the Gate, Sally knew Jack would make sure he returned. Or die trying. Which was as frightening as it was comforting. She'd already been told that she wasn't going to be put on any teams, and undoubtedly wouldn't be going through the gate for any reason – which was fine, since she wasn't sure she really wanted to – if she worked at the SGC, it would most likely be with theoretical numbers, and probabilities, working out problems brought up by some of the alien technology that the SG teams brought home with them.  
  
It would be a challenge, but one that Sally thought she could enjoy. Like the challenge of dating someone like Daniel, who was so wrapped in his work that he sometimes forgot to eat, and lost a lot of sleep. She smiled and reached under the table and took his hand, watching as Jack started dishing Sam a plate. Daniel squeezed her hand, gently, and she turned to him, falling into his blue eyes contentedly.  
  
Challenges were what made life worth living.  
  
The End  
  
................  
  
Author's note: Yes, Jack doesn't get a kitten. No, I didn't do the scene with Daniel and Sally, mainly because I gave it a lot of thought, and just didn't like the way it was going together in my head, so I knew I couldn't get it written out without making it sound forced and that would never do! I hate it when my writing is forced. Which means everyone will have to use their imaginations to figure out what Daniel and Sally discussed that day in the infirmary. Anyways! I hope you liked the story. I enjoyed writing it (and I put it up as fast as I could, since my vacation ends today, and I didn't want anyone to have to wait any longer than necessary. (Besides, I was being nagged!) hehe. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't. Favorite line if there is one. 


End file.
